THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


I 


1607-1907 

A  Descriptive  Catalogue 

OP 

THE   MASSACHUSETTS   EXHIBIT 

OF 

Colonial  Books 


JAMESTOWN   TER-CENTENNIAL 
EXPOSITION 


PRIVATELY   PRINTED 

BOSTON 

1907 


BOSTON 

WKIGHT  &  POTl'BK  Pkinting  Compan  V 

State  Pkikteks 


7':v 


Board  of  Jamestown  Exposition  Managers 
FOR  Massachusetts 

Thomas  Leonard  Livermore  of  Boston,  Chairman 

Arthur  Lord  of  Plymouth 

Francis  Henry  Appleton  of  Peabody 

WiLSON  Henry  Fairbank  of  Warren 

Vi 

^       Mrs.  Barrett  Wendell  of  Boston 

^       William  Andrew  Murphy  of  Boston,  Secretary 

g       Miss  Emma  A.  Allen  of  Needham,  Assistant  Secretary 


•^  Committee  on  Books 

CM 

> 

§      Mrs.  Frederick  Strong  Moseley  of  Boston,  Chairman 

Miss  Amy  Lowell  of  Brookline,  Secretary 

O      Mrs.  MooRFiELD  Storey  of  Boston 

o 

rs:      Frederick  Lewis  Gay  of  Brookline 

o 

2      George  Emery  Littlefield  of  Somerville 
ci 

^      Henry  Saltonstall  Howe  of  Brookline 
9      Charles  Pelham  Gueenougii  of  Brookline 
Daniel  Berkeley  Updike  of  Boston 


r.' 


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in  2007  witii  funding  from 

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littp://www.arcliive.org/details/descriptivecatalOOIittiala 


PREFACE 


The  books  described  in  this  catalogue  are  exhibited  at  the 
Jamestown Ter-centennial  Exposition,  Hampton  Roads, Vir- 
ginia, by  the  Board  of  Jamestown  Exposition  Managers  for 
Massachusetts.  The  exhibit  comprises  specimens  of  all  the 
New  England  colonial  printers,  with  one  exception,  namely, 
Stephen  Day.  A  copy  of  The  Whole  Booke  of  Psalmes^ 
printed  at  the  Day  press  in  Cam!)ridge  in  1G40,  was  offered 
for  exhibition,  but  since  it  would  be  impossible  to  replace  it, 
if  by  any  chance  it  should  be  destroyed,  the  committee  on 
books  decided  not  to  assume  the  great  responsibility,  and 
there  was  substituted  a  photographic  facsimile.  In  this 
striking  exhibit  there  is  also  a  collection  of  books  of  the 
more  prominent  colonial  writers,  more  especially  those 
which  illustrate  the  great  questions  which  engrossed  the 
minds  and  thoughts  of  our  seventeenth  century  ancestors, 
and  their  discussions  thereon. 

Xo  attempt  has  been  made  to  include  all  of  the  early 
writers,  nor  are  the  books  exhibited  simply  because  of 
rarity.  The  intention  is  rather  to  show,  by  a  judicious 
selection,  that  American  literature  began  certainly  as  early 
as  the  arrival  of  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  on  the  shores 
of  New  P^iigland,  and  tliat  our  early  New  England  ancestors 
were  able  to  produce  literature,  not  only  in  its  widest  sense, 
but  also  in  the  more  limited  sense  of  belh>s  U-ttres,  or  ])oHte 
literature,  including  poetry  and  liistory.      We  need  mention 


only  a  few  of  the  writers  of  those  times,  such  as  Thomas 
Shepard,  John  Cotton,  John  Morton,  John  Eliot,  Nathaniel 
Ward,  Anne  Bradstreet,  Michael  AV^iggles worth,  William 
Hubbard,  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather.  Their  works  on 
history,  biogi*aphy,  philosophy  and  theology  and  their 
poetry  are  in  this  exhibit.  The}^  tell  of  the  many  grave  and 
serious  questions  which  confronted  our  colonial  ancestors, 
such  as  the  evolution  of  a  new  system  of  church  discipline, 
the  compilation  of  a  code  of  laws,  the  subjugation  and 
civilization  of  the  Indians,  and  the  manner  of  dealing  with 
the  witchcraft  delusion. 

The  Board  of  Jamestown  Exposition  Managers  for  Massa- 
chusetts make  grateful  acknowledgment  to  all  who  have 
assisted  in  the  preparation  of  this  collection  of  books  of 
Massachusetts  authors,  printers  and  publishers,  of  the  period 
prior  to  the  revolution,  especially  to  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Dames,  which  has  been  untiring  in  its  efforts  to  make  the 
exhibition  worthy  of  the  Commonwealth  and  that  great 
period  in  our  history ;  to  the  trustees  of  the  several  libraries ; 
and  to  those  Avho  have  generously  lent  their  books  and 
manuscripts. 

In  a  catalogue  issued  by  the  INIassachusetts  Board  of 
Managers  all  the  articles  in  the  Colonial  Loan  Collection 
sent  to  the  exposition  were  enumerated,  the  books  being 
referred  to  simply  by  their  title-pages.  This  catalogue  has 
been  printed  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay,  and 
the  bibliographical  and  descriptive  notes  have  been  added 
by  Mr.  (leorge  E.  Littlefield,  and  to  these  gentlemen  special 
acknowleJirmcnt  is  due. 


BOOKS 

OF   MASSACHUSETTS   AUTHORS,   PRINTERS   AND 
PUBLISHERS  OF  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD. 


147a.  The  Whole  Booke  of  Psahnes  Faithfully  Translated 
into  English  Metre.  Whereunto  is  prefixed  a 
discourse  declaring  not  only  the  lawfullness, 
but  also  the  necessity  of  the  heavenly  Ordi- 
nance of  singing  Scripture  Psahnes  in  the 
Churches  of  God.  .  .  .  Imprinted  1(540. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

A  photographic  facsimile  of  the  earliest  issue  of  the  Cambridge 
press.  All  the  copies  known  to  be  extant  of  the  original  issue  do  not 
exceed  ten,  only  four  of  which  are  perfect.  From  whatever  point  of 
view  it  is  looked  at,  it  is  considered  one  of  the  world's  most  precious 
books. 

The  translation  from  the  original  Hebrew  began  in  1G36.  Cotton 
Mather  explains  the  necessity  for  the  translation  as  follows:  "The 
New  English  reformers,  considering  that  tlieir  churches  enjoyed  the 
other  ordinances  of  Heaven  in  their  scrii)tural  ])urity,  were  willing 
that  the  ordinance  of  'the  singing  of  psalms'  should  be  restored 
among  them  unto  a  share  in  that  purity."  Having  determined  upon 
a  new  version  the  chief  divines  ol"  tlic  country  took  eac;h  of  them  a 
I)<)rtion  to  be  translated,  'i'he  men  most  prominent  in  the  translation 
were  Richard  Mather  of  Dorchester,  John  Kliot  of  Roxbury  and 
'J'liomas  Welde  of  Hoxbury. 

The  philological  experience  gained  in  making  this  translation  was 
of  great  benefit  to  Eliot  when  a  few  years  later  he  was  engaged  in 
translating  books  into  the  Indian  language. 


8 

148.  [Mather,  Cotton.]  Ratio  Disciplinpe  Fratrum  Nov- 
Anglorum.  A  Faithful  Account  of  the  Disci- 
pline professed  and  practiced ;  in  the  Churches 
of  New-England.  With  Interspersed  and  In- 
structive Reflections  on  the  Discipline  of  the 
Primitive  Churches.  Boston  :  Printed  for  S. 
Gerrish  in  Cornhill.  1726. 
Lent  by  Mrs.  Dwight  Foster. 

Although  his  name  does  not  appear  npon  the  title-page,  yet  in  the 
Postscript  Cotton  Mather  "  does  here  own  himself  the  author  of  the 
book  and  annex  and  subscribe  his  name  unto  it."  He  calls  it  a 
"  Historical  Ri-lation  in  which  it  is  shown  that  what  is  practiced  in  the 
New  England  churches  is  in  accord  with  the  Platform  of  Church  Dis- 
cipline agreed  upon  by  the  Elders  and  Messengers  in  the  Synod  at 
Cambridge  in  1648,  and  that  this  practice  agrees  with  the  practices  of 
the  Apostolic  times  and  of  the  Christians  in  the  age  next  unto  the 
Apostles.  That  it  was  not  on  account  of  the  fundamentals  in  doctrines 
that  our  fathers  came  into  the  wilderness,  but  in  regard  to  church 
order  and  discipline.''  His  object  in  writing  the  book  was  to  give  to 
those  who  Avished  well  to  the  New  England  churches,  wherever  they 
might  be,  an  account  of  the  churches  here,  and  to  show  what  they 
were  and  what  they  did.  In  the  Introduction  he  gives  a  full  account 
of  the  faith  and  principles,  and  in  the  body  of  the  book  the  methods 
and  customs  of  the  New  England  churches.  In  their  practices  the 
Congregational  churches  of  the  present  day  vary  but  little  from  the 
principles  laid  down  in  this  manual.  At  the  end  of  the  Introduction, 
written  as  early  as  1719,  he  says  :  "  Let  it  be  remembered  ;  the  Indians 
in  the  Massachusetts  Province  are  all  Christianized  except  the  Eastern 
salvages,  which  have  been  anti-christianized  by  the  Popish  Mission- 
aries." In  1724,  two  jears  before  this  book  was  published,  a  check 
Avas  given  to  the  Popish  Mission  by  sending  a  force  of  two  hundred 
and  eight  New  England  men  through  the  woods,  who  killed  Father 
Rasle,  with  thirty  of  the  Abenaki  Indians,  and  destroyed  the  Indian 
village  of  Norridfj:ewock. 


9 

149.  Lyon,  James.      Urania,  or  A  Choice  Collection  of 

Psalm-Tunes,  Anthems,  and  Hymns,  From  the 
most  approv'd  Authors,  with  some  Entirely 
New ;  in  Two,  Three,  and  Four,  Parts.  The 
whole  Peculiarly  adapted  to  the  Use  of  Churches, 
and  Private  Families  :  To  which  are  Prefix'd 
The  Plainest,  &  most  Necessary  Rules  of 
Psalmody.  By  James  Lyon  A.  B.  Hen.  Daw- 
kins  fecit  17G1  Philad'!  Price  15/". 
Lent  by  Mrs.  Dwight  Foster. 

The  largest  musical  book  that  had  been  published  in  the  colonies, 
and  which  is  said  to  have  ruined  the  publisher.  It  was  handsomely 
engraved  by  Henry  Dawkins,  and  printed  on  excellent  English  paper. 
It  contained  the  first  music  of  a  fuguing  style  ever  published  in  this 
countrv. 

150.  [Eliot's  Indian  Bible.]     Mamusse  Wunneetupana- 

tamwe  Up-Biblum  God  Nanecswe  Nukkone 
Testament  Kah  Wonk  AYusku  Testament.  Ne 
quoshkinnumuk  nashpe  Wuttinncumon  Christ 
noh  asoowesit  John  Eliot.  Nahohtoeu  outchetot 
Printeuoomuk.  Cambridge  :  Printenoop  nashpe 
Samuel  Green.  MDCLXXXV. 
Lent  by  Boston  Atlienceum. 

A  monument  to  the  patience,  jjerseverance  and  erudition  of  Rev. 
John  Eliot,  the  Koxbury  minister,  and  Apostle  to  the  Indians.  The 
production  of  this  book  required  nearly  twenty  years  of  constant 
labor.  In  order  to  Christianize  the  Indians  Eliot  found  it  necessary 
to  learn  the  Indian  language.  He  familiarized  himself  with  their 
manners  and  customs,  and  acquired  their  language  by  conversations 
on  all  subjects.  As  they  had  no  written  language  he  was  obliged  to 
construct  one  for  them,  in  wliich  task  lie  was  greatly  assisted  by  an 
intelligent  Indian  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  in  the  re(|uot  war, 
and  whom  he  engaged  as  a  servant  in  liis  own  family.  lie  also 
taught  the  Indians  to  read  and  write,  and  educated  some  young  In- 
dian youth  to  go  among   the  other   Indians  as  missionaries.     Kliot 


10 

especially  desired  and  ardently  longed  for  printed  copies  of  the  Holy 
Bible  in  the  Indian  language,  into  which  he  had  translated  it,  but 
the  expense  of  printing  forbade.  The  matter,  however,  was  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  Corj)oraHo7i  for  the  Promoting  and  Propagat- 
ing the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  in  New  England,  a  society  which  had 
been  formed  in  Loudon  in  1649  for  the  advancement  of  civilization 
and  Christianity'  among  the  Indians.  It  agreed  to  assume  the  ex- 
pense of  printing,  and  in  1661  the  New  Testament  was  published  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  having  been  printed  by  Samuel  Green,  the  local 
printer,  and  Marmaduke  Johnson,  an  expert  English  printer,  who 
had  been  sent  over  by  the  corporation  for  that  purpose.  In  1663 
the  Old  Testament  was  published  by  the  same  printers,  and  Eliot's 
long-cherished  desire  of  seeing  the  Bible  printed  in  the  Indian  lan- 
guage was  gratified. 

So  many  copies  were  used  up  by  the  Indians  and  destroyed  in 
King  Philip's  war  that  a  second  edition  was  published  in  Cambridge 
by  Samuel  Green  in  1685,  also  at  the  expense  of  the  London  corpora- 
tion, a  copy  of  which  is  here  exhibited. 

According  to  the  list  of  owners  of  copies  of  the  Indian  Bible,  pre- 
pared by  Mr,  Wilberforce  Eames  of  the  Lenox  Library  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  only  one  absolutely  perfect  copy  of  the  first  edition  is 
known  to  be  in  existence. 

151.  [The  Massachusetts  Code.]  The  Book  of  the 
General  Laws  and  Libertves  concerning:  the 
Inhabitants  of  the  Massachusets,  collected  out 
of  the  Records  of  the  General  Court,  for  the 
several  years  wherein  they  "svere  made  and 
established.  And  Now  Revised  by  the  same 
Court,  and  disposed  into  an  Alphabetical  order, 
and  published  by  the  same  Authority  in  the 
General  Court  holdcn  at  Boston  in  May  1649. 
Cambridge,  Printed  according  to  the  Order  of 
the  General  Court,  1660. 
Lent  by  Boston  Athenanm. 

The  first  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  and, 
until  within  a  vear,  the  first  extant  issue  of  these  lawii. 


11 

On  the  19th  of  October,  1630,  it  was  voted  "  by  the  general  vote  of 
the  people  and  erection  of  hands"'  that  the  Governor  and  Deputy 
Govemor,  with  the  Assistants,  "should  have  the  power  of  making 
laws  and  choosing  officers  to  execute  the  same."  But  in  1634  the 
freemen  of  the  colony  desired  to  take  a  part  in  the  government,  and  at 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Court  in  May  it  was  voted  that  each  town 
should  choose  two  or  three  deputies  to  represent  it  at  the  General 
Court,  and  that  none  but  the  General  Court  should  make  and  establish 
laws.  No  general  code  had  been  established,  and  on  May  6, 1635,  the 
General  Coiut  voted  that  the  Governor,  Deputy  Governor  and  Thomas 
Dudley  should  prepare  "  A  draught  of  such  laws  as  they  shall  judge 
useful  for  the  well  ordering  of  this  plantation  and  present  the  same 
to  the  Court.  At  the  General  Court,  May  25,  1636,  a  committee  of 
nine  persons,  including  John  Cotton,  Hugh  Peter  and  Thomas  Shep- 
ard,  was  "  entreated  to  make  a  draught  of  laws  agreeable  to  the  word 
of  God,"  and  to  present  the  same  to  the  next  General  Court.  On 
October  25  Mr.  Cotton  presented  a  copy  of  Moses  his  Judicials, 
compiled  in  an  exact  method,  which  was  referred  to  the  next  court. 
No  action  was  taken  on  it,  and  nothing  appears  to  have  been  done  by 
these  committees.  At  the  General  Court  begun  March  12,  1637/8,  it 
was  ordered  that  the  towns  should  send  in  draughts  of  laws,  which 
should  be  examined  by  a  committee,  of  which  Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward 
was  one,  and  have  an  abridgment  made,  to  bo  presented  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  for  confirmation  or  rejection.  According  to  Winthrop's 
Journal,  under  date  of  November,  1639,  "  .Mr  Cotton  and  Mr.  Na- 
thaniel Ward,  each  of  them  framed  a  model  which  was  presented  to 
this  General  Court."  The  plan  proposed  by  Ward  was  adopted  in 
1641  by  the  General  Court.  It  is  known  as  the  Body  of  Liberties, 
and  is  the  foundation  of  the  legislation  of  Massachusetts.  It  was  not 
printed,  but  nineteen  copies  were  transcribed  and  sent  to  the  several 
towns.  The  first  laws  to  be  printed  were  The  Capital  Laws,  which 
were  ordered  by  the  General  Court  as  follows  :  "  1642,  14  June.  It 
is  ordered  that  such  laws  as  make  any  offence  capital  shall  forthwith 
be  imprinted  and  published."     No  copy  is  known  to  be  in  existence. 

The  Body  of  Liberties,  however,  was  only  a  temporary  affair, 
and  committees  were  appointed  at  the  various  General  Courts  "to 
consider  of  the  Body  of  Liberties  .  .  .  what  is  fit  to  be  repealed  or 
allowed,  and  present  the  same  to  the  next  Court."  It  was  not  until 
1648  that  the  revision  of  the  Body  of  Liberties  was  completed  and 
printed.     It  was  ready  Oct.  27,  164M,  as  on  that  date  it  is  '•  ordered  by 


12 

the  full  Court  that  the  books  of  laws  now  at  the  press  may  be  sold  in 
quires  at  three  shillings  the  book." 

So  completely  had  the  copies  of  this  edition  passed  out  of  sight  that 
it  was  supposed  to  be  a  lost  book,  but  in  1906  a  copy  was  found  in 
England  and  has  been  brought  to  New  York. 

153.  [Endicott,  John.]  The  Humble  Petition  and  Ad- 
dress of  the  General  Court  sitting  at  Boston 
in  New-England,  unto  The  High  and  Mighty 
Prince  Charles  the  second  And  presented  unto 
His  Most-Gracious  Majesty  Feb.  11.  1660 
Printed  in  the  Year  1660. 
Lent  by  Mr.  William  C.  Endicott, 

Charles  the  Second  was  proclaimed  the  lawful  King  of  England 
May  29,  1660.  The  news  of  the  restoration  reached  Boston  in 
July,  and  in  August  he  was  formally  proclaimed  in  the  colony.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  General  Court  on  the  19th  of  December,  "  It  is  ordered 
that  an  address  be  made  to  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty  as  also 
to  the  high  court  of  Parliament."  The  Hmnble  Petition  contains 
that  address,  which  was  duly  sent  and  presented  to  the  King  Feb.  11, 
1660/1. 

In  it  the  General  Court  asked  "  for  your  gracious  protection  of  us 
in  the  continuance  both  of  our  civil  as  well  as  our  religious  liberties 
conferred  upon  this  plantation  by  your  royal  father.  .  .  .  Touching 
complaints  put  against  us,  our  humble  request  is  .  .  .  your  majesty 
would  permit  nothing  to  make  an  impression  on  your  royal  heart 
against  us  until  we  have  both  opportunity  and  leave  to  answer  for 
ourselves,"  etc. 

The  petition  was  well  received,  and  on  tlie  loth  of  February, 
1660/1,  King  Charles  sent  a  letter  to  Governor  Endicott,  in  which  he 
acknowledges  the  receipt  of  the  petition,  expresses  appreciation  of 
the  sentiments  contained  in  it  and  promises  that  "  we  shall  not  come 
behind  any  of  our  royal  predecessors  in  a  just  encouragement  and 
protection  of  all  our  loving  subjects  there  whose  ap))lication  unto  us, 
since  our  late  happy  re.storation  hath  been  very  acceptable,"  etc. 


13 

160.  [Mather,  Kichard.  Cambridge  Platform.]  A  Con- 
fession of  Faith  Owned  and  consented  unto 
by  the  Elders  and  Messengers  of  the  Churches. 
Assembled  at  Boston  in  New-En«:land.  May 
12.  11)80  Being  the  second  Session  of  that 
Synod  Boston,  Printed  by  John  Foster.  1680. 
Lent  by  2Ir.  W.  G.  ShiUaber. 

The  Pilgrims  who  came  to  Plymouth  in  1620  were  separatists. 
The  Puritans  who  came  to  Salem  in  1028  were  non-coniormists,  and, 
as  Rev.  Mr  Higginson  is  declared  to  have  said,  "  did  not  go  to  New 
England  as  Separatists  from  the  Church  of  England,  though  we  can- 
not but  separate  from  the  corruption  in  it.  But  we  go  to  practice  the 
positive  part  of  the  Church  Reiormatiou  and  propa<:ate  the  Gospel  in 
America."  When,  however,  separated  from  E^ngland  by  a  vast  ocean, 
the  Salem  company  attempted  to  eft'ect  a  church  organization,  the 
brethren  were  glad  to  consult  with  the  Plymouth  brethren,  and 
eventually  to  build  their  church  substantially  upon  the  lines  of  the 
Plymouth  church.  Other  churches  were  formed  upon  the  same 
model,  and  in  1640  there  were  thirty-five  Congregational  churches  in 
New  England.  In  the  formation  of  these  churches,  however,  each 
company  acted  its  own  preference,  so  that,  amid  general  unity,  there 
was  slight  variety. 

About  1645,  according  to  Cotton  Mather,  "  it  became  convenient 
that  the  Churches  of  New  England  should  have  a  system  of  discipline 
extracted  from  the  word  of  God  and  exhibited  unto  them,  with  a 
more  effectual,  acknowledged,  and  established  recommendation  :  and 
nothing  but  a  Council  was  proper  to  compose  the  .system." 

In  May,  1646,  the  General  Court  desired  that  the  churches  of 
Massachusetts  send  their  elders  and  messenger.-^  to  sit  in  a  synod  at 
Cambridge  on  the  fir.st  of  Septeml)er  next  ensuing,  ••to  discuss, 
dispute  and  clear  up  by  the  word  of  God  such  questions  of  church 
government  and  discipline."  To  this  synod  the  churches  of  I'lym- 
outh,  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  were  invited  to  send  delegates. 
The  synod  opened  at  the  appointed  time,  and  alt(!r  .'iitting  a  Ibrtnight 
adjourned  to  June  8,  1647,  having  appointed  John  Cotton,  Richard 
Mather  and  Ralph  Partridge  each  a  committee  of  one  to  draw  up  a 
plan  of  a  scriptural  model  of  church  governm(!iit,  so  that  the  three 


14 

might  be  compared.  When  the  synod  met  in  June,  1647,  an  epidemi- 
cal sickness  caused  it  to  be  adjourned  until  the  15th  of  August,  1648, 
at  which  it  "  settled  down  substantially  upon  Mr.  jMather's  draught  of 
a  Platform."  In  1649,  the  result  of  the  sj'nod  having  been  put  into 
print,  it  was  "  presented  to  the  churches  and  General  Court  for  their 
consideration  and  acceptance  in  the  Lord."  In  October,  1649,  the 
(jeneral  Court  commended  it  to  the  churches  and  asked  if  they 
approved  it.  Upon  receiving  favorable  replies,  in  1651  it  voted  "to 
give  their  testimony  to  the  said  book  of  discipline,  that  for  the  sub- 
stance thereof,  it  is  that  we  have  practised  and  do  believe."  It  is 
known  as  the  "Cambridge  Platform,"  and  was  reprinted  in  1671  and 
1680. 

1(U.  [Mather,  Increase.]  A  Sermon  Wherein  is  Shewed, 
I  That  the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  need,  and 
ought  to  desire  the  Prayers  of  the  Lord's  People 
for  them.  II  That  the  People  of  God  ought  to 
Pray  for  His  Ministers.  Preached  at  Koxbury, 
October  29,  1718.  When  Mr.  Thomas  Walter 
Was  Ordained  a  Pastor  in  that  Church,  by  his 
Grand-Father  Increase  Mather.  D.D.  Boston  : 
Printed  by  S.  Kneeland  for  J.  Edwards,  at  his 
Shop  next  door  to  the  Light-House  Tavern  (,in 
King-street.  1718) 
Lent  by  Mr.  W.  G.  Shillabcr. 

The  son  of  Rev.  Nehemiah  Walter,  the  colleague  of  Kev.  John 
Eliot,  the  .Apostle  to  the  Indians,  and  grandson  of  Rev  Increase 
Mather.  lie  was  born  in  1696,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1713 
and  was  ordained  as  colleague  with  his  father  Oct.  29,  1718.  "  He 
was  a  distinguished  scholar,  a  popular  preacher,  and  a  keen  dis- 
putant," He  was  very  much  interested  in  music,  and  published  in 
1721  The  Grounds  and  Rules  of  Music  explained,  one  of  the  first 
music  books  published  in  this  country. 

I(j2.  Moodoy,  Samuel.  The  Doh'ful  State  of  tlie  Damned ; 
Especially  such  as  go  to  IIoll  From  under  the 
Gospel ;  Aggravated  from  their  Apprehensions 


15 

of  the  Saints  Happiness  in  Heaven.  Being  the 
Substance  of  several  Sermons.  Preached  at 
York,  in  the  Province  of  Main.  By  Samuel 
Moodey,  M.  A.  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
there.  Boston  :  Printed  &  Sold  by  Timothy 
Green  in  Middle  Street.  Also  Sold  by  Benj. 
Eliot  in  King  Street.  1710 
Lent  bij  Mr.  W.  G.  Shillabcr. 

A  work  by  the  most  eccentric  of  the  early  New  England  divines 
as  to  his  ways  and  manners,  but  very  successful  in  his  ministry.  He 
was  bom  at  Newbury,  Mass.,  in  1676  ;  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1697  ;  was  ordained  minister  at  York,  Me.,  in  1700  ;  and  died  Nov. 
13,  1747.  The  whole  period  of  his  ministry  was  marked  by  agitation 
and  peril  from  incursions  of  the  French  and  Indians.  He  was  chap- 
lain in  PepperelPs  Cape  Breton  expedition. 

In  his  ministry  he  was  fired  with  religious  zeal  and  was  a  great 
friend  of  revivals,  and  his  cliurch  was  prominent  in  the  great  re- 
ligious awakening  excited  by  Whitfield  in  1741.  Many  of  his  strange 
sayings  are  still  quoted,  and  anecdotes  told  by  him  in  the  pulpit  are 
frequently  repeated.  His  printed  sermons  had  curious  titles,  among 
which  were  The  Vain  Youth  summoned  to  appear  at  Christ's  liar; 
Doleful  State  of  the  Damned;  Judas  the  Traitor  hung  in  Chains;  Ser- 
mon on  the  Way  to  get  out  of  Debt  and  the  Way  to  keep  out  of  Debt. 

163.  The  Boston  Directory,  containing  A  List  of  the 
Merchants,  Mechanics,  Traders,  and  others,  of 
the  Town  of  Boston  ;  in  Order  to  enable 
Strangers  to  find  the  Residence  of  any  Per- 
son. To  which  is  added,  Public  Offices, 
where,  and  by  whom  kept.  Barristers  and 
Attorneys  at  Law,  and  Avhere  Residing.  Piiysi- 
cians.  Surgeons,  and  tlieir  places  of  Abode, 
President,  Directors,  days  and  hours  of  Busi- 
ness at  the  Bank.  Xanu's  and  places  of  al)()de 
of  all  the  Lnfjinc-nu^n.    Illustrated  witii  a  Plan  of 


16 

the  Town  of  Boston.    Boston  :  Printed  and  sold 
by  John  Norman,  at  (Ol)ivers-Dock.     1789 
Lent  by  Mr.  W.  G.  SMllaber. 

The  first  Boston  Directory.  No  better  illustration  of  the  growth 
of  Boston  during  the  last  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  can  be  given 
than  by  comparing  this  little  Directory  with  the  huge  Directory  of 
the  present  year. 

164.  Torrey,  Samuel.  A  Plea  For  the  Life  of  Dying 
Religion  from  the  Word  of  the  Lord  :  in  a  Ser- 
mon Preached  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Colony  of  the  Massachusets  at  Boston  in  New- 
England,  May  16.  1683.  Being  the  Day  of 
Election  there.  By  Mr.  Samuel  Torrey  Pastor 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  at  Way  mouth.  Boston- 
in-New-England  Printed  by  Samuel  Green  for 
Samuel  Sewall.  1683. 
Lent  hy  Mr.  W.  G.  SMllaber. 

John  Winthrop,  in  his  Journal,  makes  the  following  record: 
"(1634  May)  14.  At  the  general  court,  Mr.  Cotton  preached,  and 
delivered  this  doctrine,  that  a  magistrate  ought  not  to  be  turned  into 
the  condition  of  a  private  citizen  without  just  cause,  and  to  be  publicly 
convict,  no  more  than  the  magistrates  may  not  turn  a  private  man 
out  of  his  freehold,  without  like  public  trial,  etc." 

Whether  or  not  this  was  the  first  election  sermon  does  not  appear, 
but  apparently  from  that  year  until  recently  the  custom  of  having  a 
sermon  at  tlie  general  election  has  continued 

The  first  ])rinted  election  sermon  is  The  Cause  of  God  and  his  People 
in  New  E7igla.nd  as  it  ivas  stated  and  discussed  in  a  Sermo?i  jireached 
before  the  JIonouralAe  General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  on  the 
27  day  of  May  Kitj'.i.  licing  the  Day  of  Election  at  Boston.  By  John 
Hiyginson  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  Christ  at  fialem,  Cambridy : 
Printed  by  Samuel  Green  l(Ui'.i. 

It  has  alwa3s  been  the  custom  of  the  minister  to  discuss  on  these 
occasions  what  was  ui)i)ermost  in  tlie  minds  of  the  pco])lc,  and  in  this 


17 

long  series  of  sermons  is  mirrored,  as  it  were,  the  great  burning 
questions  which  have  agitated  the  public  mind  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years. 

180.  [Steere,    Richard.]       The    Daniel    Catcher.      The 

Life  of  the  Prophet  Daniel :  in  a  Poem.  To 
which  is  Added  Earth's  Felicities,  Heaven's 
Allowances,  A  Blank  Poem.  With  several  other 
Poems.  By  R.  S.  Printed  in  the  Year  1713. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

The  author  was  Richard  Steere,  who  was  bom  in  England  in  1643, 
and  who  is  supposed  to  have  come  to  Boston  as  early  as  1675.  He 
made  a  trip  to  England  in  1683,  returning  to  Boston  in  1684.  He 
gave  to  Kichard  Pierce,  the  Boston  printer,  the  manuscript  of  two 
long  poems,  which  he  had  written  while  on  the  voyage  and  which 
were  published  in  1684.  In  1713  Mr.  Steere  sent  to  John  Allen,  an- 
other Boston  printer,  the  manuscript  of  a  poem  entitled  The  Daniel 
Catcher,  which  was  printed  in  that  year.  Both  of  these  volumes  of 
poetry  have  considerable  merit,  and  although  no  other  works  of  his 
are  known  to  be  in  existence,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  these  are  his 
only  publications.  Of  the  book  published  in  1684  one  copy  only  is 
known  to  be  extant,  and  of  the  one  published  in  17 '  3  only  two  copies 
are  known. 

181.  [Eliot,   John?]     New   Englands  First   Fruits;   in 

respect  First  of 

f  Conversion  of  some         ] 
the     Conviction  of  divers       [  of  the  Indians. 

1,  Preparation  of  sundry  j 
2.  Of  the  progresse  of  Learning,  in  the  Col- 
ledgc,  at  Cambridge,  in  ]\Iassac'usets  Bay.  with 
Divers  other  speciull  jNIutter.s  (-oncerning  that 
Countrey.  Published  by  the  in.stant  recjucst 
of  sundry  Friends,  who  dcsh'e  to  be  satisfied 
in  these  points  by  many  New-England  Men  who 


18 

are  here  present,  and  were  eye  or  eare- witnesses 
of  the  same.  London,  Printed  by  R.  O.  and 
G.  D.  for  Henry  Overton,  and  are  to  be  sold 
at  his  Shop  in  Popes-  -head-  -Alley.     1643 

Lent  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

The  first  of  a  series  of  tracts  relating  to  the  conversion  of  the 
aborigines  in  New  England.  The  author  is  not  known,  but  it  has 
been  ascribed  to  Rev.  John  Eliot.  Among  the  authors  of  the  other 
tracts  were  Rev.  John  Wilson,  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  Gov.  Edward 
Winslow,  Rev.  Henry  Whitfield  and  others.  These  tracts  are  known 
as  the  "  Eliot  Tracts,"  and  the  accounts  which  they  gave  of  the  suc- 
cess these  ministers  had  met  with,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties 
under  which  they  labored,  were  read  with  interest  by  friends  in  Eng- 
land to  whom  they  were  addressed,  and  an  appeal  to  Parliament  was 
made  for  aid  in  the  cause.  It  resulted  in  the  formation  in  1649  of  a 
Corporation  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  New  England, 
which  contributed  large  sums  for  the  education  of  the  Indians,  and 
paid  the  expenses  of  publishing  books  translated  into  the  Indian 
language. 

Netv  Englands  First  Fruits  is  extremely  interesting,  and  con- 
tains the  first  reliable  information  concerning  the  progress  of  educa- 
tion in  the  New  England  colony.  The  text  consists  of  twenty-six 
pages,  nearly  half  of  which  are  devoted  to  the  founding  of  Harvard 
College,  the  first  extended  account  we  have  of  that  institution  of 
learning.     The  first  paragraph  reads  in  part :  — 

"  After  God  had  carried  us  safe  to  New  England  and  we  had 
builded  our  houses,  provided  necessaries  for  our  livelihood  reared 
convenient  places  for  God's  worship  and  settled  the  civil  government ; 
one  of  the  next  things  we  longed  for  and  looked  after  was  to  advance 
learning  and  perpetuate  it  to  posterity,  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate 
ministry  to  the  Churches,  when  our  present  ministers  shall  lie  in  the 
dust.  And  as  we  were  thinking  and  consulting  how  to  eifect  this 
great  work  ;  it  pleased  (iod  to  stir  up  the  heart  of  one  INIr.  Harvard  (a 
godly  gentleman)  to  give  us  one  half  of  his  estate  towards  the  erec- 
tion of  a  College,  and  all  his  library.  .  .  .  The  College  was  by  com- 
mon consent,  appointed  to  be  at  Cambridge  (a  place  very  pleasant 
and  accommodate)  and  is  called  (according  to  the  name  of  the  first 
founder)  Harvard  College." 


19 

228.  Flavell,  John.  Englands  Dut}',  Under  the  Present 
Gospel  Liberty  From  Kevel.  III.  vers.  20. 
Wherein  is  Opened  The  Admirable  Condescen- 
sion and  Patience  of  Clirist,  in  waiting  upon 
tri(fl)ing  and  obstinate  Sinners.  The  wretched 
State  of  the  Unconverted.  The  nature  of  the 
Evangelical  Faith,  with  the  Difficulties,  Trjals, 
and  Means  thereof.  The  Riches  of  Free-srrace 
in  the  Offers  of  Clirist,  Pardon,  and  Peace  to  the 
worst  of  Sinners.  The  invaluable  Priviledo;es  of 
Union,  and  Communion,  granted  to  all  that  re- 
ceive him,  and  the  great  Duty  of  opening  to  him 
at  the  present  Knocks  and  Calls  of  the  Gospel ; 
with  the  danger  of  neglecting  these  Loud  (and 
it  may  be)  last  Knocks  and  Calls  of  Christ,  dis- 
covered. By  John  Flavell,  Preacher  of  the 
Gospel  at  Dartmouth  in  Devon.  (Lon)don 
Printed  for  Matthew  Wotton  at  the  Three 
(Da)ggers  near  the  Inner-Temple  Gate  in 
Fleetstreet,  1689 
Lent  by  Mr.  Nathan  11.  Withington,  Newhurij jiort,  Mass. 

Interesting  as  an  earl}-  '•  association  book."  having  been  presented 
by  Judge  Samuel  Sewall  to  Rev.  John  Eliot  of  Roxburj-.  Judge 
Sewall,  having  been  absent  in  England  a  3 ear,  returned  to  liostoa, 
Dec  2,  1689,  and  immediately  resumed  his  Diari/ 

December  17,  he  gave  Mr.  Mather  "two  Duzen  books  bound,  viz. 
Right  thoughts,  &c  Sermons  to  his  Father  Pliillips,  and  on  the  Ark." 

March  1,  1»)89/  9",  "  1  visit  Mr.  Eliot  who  embraces  me  heartily  and 
calls  me  Brother:  I  present  him  witli  .Mr.  FlavelTs  liook  :  En;j^land's 
Duty  (under  the  present  Gospel  liberty)  " 

May  21,  1690,  "Mr.  Eliot  dies  about  one  in  tlu>  morning." 


20 

229.  Freemen's  Oath.     Historical  Manuscripts  and  Ee- 

prints,  No.  3.  July  1894  Fac-simile  of  the 
First  Draft  of  the  Freemen's  Oath,  in  the 
Handwriting  of  Governor  John  Winthrop,  and 
of  the  Servant's  Oath  together  with  a  Modifica- 
tion of  the  Freemen's  Oath,  Both  in  the  Hand- 
writing of  Governor  Thomas  Dudley,  with  a 
Note  by  the  Hon.  Mellen  Chamberlain,  LL.D. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

"The  Freemen's  Oath,"  first  printed  in  1638,  was  the  first  issue  of 
the  press  sent  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  by  the  Rev.  Jose. 
Glover  and  set  up  in  Cambridge,  as  an  appendage  to  the  college. 
It  was  printed  on  a  half  sheet  of  small  paper.  'No  copy  is  known  to 
be  extant. 

This  was  the  oath  which  every  man  over  twenty  years  of  age,  and 
six  months  a  householder,  was  obliged  to  take  in  order  to  become  a 
freeman  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Previous  to  1638  all  the  copies  were  written,  and  the  copy  ex- 
hibited is  a  photographic  facsimile  of  one  written  by  Gov.  John 
Winthrop,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

230.  TuUey,  John.     Tulley  1698.     An  Almanack   For 

the  Year  of  our  Lord,  MDCXCVHI.  Being 
Second  after  Leap-Year,  and  from  the  Creation 
5647.  Wherein  is  Contained  the  Lunations, 
Courts,  Spring-tides,  Planets,  Aspects  and 
Weather,  the  Rising  and  the  Setting  of  the 
Sun,  together  with  tlie  Sun  and  Moons  place, 
and  time  of  Full  Sea,  or  High- Water,  with  an 
account  of  the  Eclipses,  Conjunctions,  and 
otlier  Configurations  of  the  Civlestial  Bodies, 
Calculated  for  and  fitted  to  the  ^Meridian  of 
Boston  in  New-England,  whore  the  North  Pole 
is  Elevated  42.  gr.  30  min.     But  may  indiffer- 


21 

ently  serve  any  part  of  New-England .  By  John 
Tulley,  Licensed  1)y  Authority.  Boston,  N.  E. 
Printed  by  Bartholomew  Green,  and  John 
Allen,  Sold  at  the  Printing-Hoiise  at  the  South 
End  of  the  Town  1(598. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

The  compilation  of  almanacs  or  calendars  antedates  the  Christian 
era  by  thousands  of  years.  The  earliest  written  Christian  almanac 
known  is  the  "Almanac  of  354,"'  issued  while  Liberius  was  Pope. 
What  is  considered  to  be  the  first  printed  almanac  is  the  "  Calendar 
of  1457,"  printed  at  Meutz  by  Gutenberg,  of  which  only  half  a  single 
copy  is  known  to  be  extant. 

The  second  issue  of  the  Cambridge  press  was  the  "  Almanac  of 
1639,"  compiled  by  the  celebrated  shipmaster,  William  Pierce,  at  one 
time  captain  of  the  famous  ship  "  Ma^Hower  "  No  copy  is  known  to 
be  in  existence.  Any  American  almanac  printed  previous  to  1700  is 
extremely  scarce  and  commands  a  Iiigh  price. 

231.  Stone,  Samuel.  A  Short  Catechism  Drawn  out  of 
the  Word  of  God  By  Samuel  Stone,  Minister 
of  the  Word  at  Hartford,  on  Connecticot. 
Boston,  in  New-England,  Printed  by  Sanuiel 
Green,  for  John  Wadsworth  of  Farniititon, 
1684.  Reissued,  with  an  Introductory  Sketch, 
from  the  Original  Edition  i)rint('d  in  1G81, 
Acorn  Club  ConnoctiL-ut  MDCCCXCIX. 
Lent  by  The  I^ahlic  Library  of  Boston.. 

Every  child  in  early  days  was  cx))e(ted  to  be  able  to  say  tlie 
catechism.  The  ma.sters  of  the  families  were  esiieciall}'  enjoined  by 
the  board  of  assistants  either  per.'^onally  to  teach,  or  to  eniplny  a  lit 
person  to  teach,  the  younger  poi-tion  of  their  families  the  catei'liisin, 
Even  before  they  could  read  tlie  cliildren  were  al)le  to  say  the 
catechism.  The  catechism  became  one  of  the  mo.-t  important  school 
books,  and  from  it  tliousands  of  childnMi  learned  to  sficll  and  read. 

In    1641   the  Ceneial  Court  of  aMassaclni.-'etts    '•(h;>ire(l    that  tin; 


22 

elders  would  make  a  catechisme  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the 
grounds  of  religion,"  but  although  nearly  every  minister  tried  his 
hand  in  compiling  a  catechism,  no  one  catechism  was  ever  adopted 
for  general  use.  Notwithstanding  many  kinds  of  catechisms  were 
printed,  both  here  and  abroad,  yet  very  few  have  come  down  to  us, 
and  of  many  of  them  every  trace  is  lost. 

The  author  of  the  "  Catechism "  exhibited  was  the  Rev  Samuel 
Stone,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1(533.  Going  to  Cambridge  with 
Hooker,  he  removed  with  him  to  Hartford,  where  he  was  teacher  of 
the  church  from  1636  till  his  death,  in  1663.  Two  copies  only  of  the 
original  edition  are  known. 


233.  Foxcroft,  Thomas.  Observations,  Historical  and 
Practical  on  the  Rise  and  Primitive  State  of 
New-England  With  a  special  Referance  to  The 
Old  or  first  gather'd  Church  in  Boston.  A  Ser- 
mon preach'd  to  the  said  Congregation  Aug. 
23,  1730.  Being  the  last  Sabbath  of  the  first 
Century  since  its  Settlement.  By  Thomas  Fox- 
croft, M.A.  Boston.  N.  E.  Printed  by  S. 
Kneeland  &  T.  Green,  for  S.  Gerrish  in  Corn- 
hill  MDCCXXX 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Owing  to  the  prevalence  of  smallpox  the  town  government  did  not 
take  any  action  for  a  general  celebration  of  the  close  of  the  first  cen- 
tury of  the  settlement  of  Boston.  It  was,  however,  not  allowed  to 
pass  unobserved.  At  the  May  session  of  the  General  Court  Rev. 
Thomas  Prince  preached  the  election  sermon,  which  is  full  of  historical 
information.  In  it  he  says:  "  How  extremely  proper  it  is  upon  the 
close  of  the  First  Century  of  our  settlement  in  this  chief  part  of  the 
land,  which  will  now  within  a  few  weeks  expire,  to  look  back  to 
the  beginning  of  this  remarkable  transaction.'  The  Thursday  lec- 
ture, 1730/1,  preached  by  Rev.  John  Webb,  "in  the  Time  of  the  Ses- 
sions of  the  (rreat  and  General  Court,"  which,  when  published,  has 
for  a  title  "The  Great  Concern  of  New  I^igland,''  is  much  of  the 
nature  of  a  cenlm-y  sermon.     The  title-page  of  the  sermon  by  Mr. 


23 

Foxcroft  shows  that  it  was  written  expressly  for  the  occasion,  and  is 
therefore  entitled  to  the  honor  of  being  our  first  centennial  sermon. 
It  was  preached  on  the  last  Sabbath  of  the  first  century  since  the  set- 
tlement of  Boston,  Aug.  23,  1730.  It  contains  the  covenant  of  the 
First  Church,  which  reads :  — 

♦'  We  whose  names  are  here  under  written,  being  by  his  most  wise 
and  good  Providence  brought  together  into  this  part  of  America,  in 
the  Bay  of  Massachusetts,  and  desirous  to  unite  ourselves  into  one 
Congregation  or  Church  under  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  our  Head,  in 
such  sort  as  becometh  all  those  whom  he  hath  redeemed  and  satisfied 
to  himself,  do  hereby  solemnly  and  relii^iously  (as  in  his  most  holy 
presence)  promise  and  bind  ourselves  to  walk  in  all  our  ways  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  of  the  gospel,  and  in  all  sincere  conformity  to  his  holy 
ordinances,  and  in  mutual  love  and  respect,  each  to  other,  so  near  as 
God  shall  give  us  grace." 


235.  Mather,  Cotton.  The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
World,  Observations  As  well  Historical  as  The- 
ological, upon  the  Nature,  the  Number,  and  the 
Operations  of  the  Devils.  Accompany'd  with, 
I.  Some  Accounts  of  the  Grievous  Molesta- 
tions, by  Daemons  and  Witchcrafts,  which  have 
lately  annoy'd  the  Countrey  ;  and  the  Trials  of 
some  eminent  Malefactors  Executed  upon  occa- 
sion thereof:  with  several  Remarkable  Curiosi- 
ties therein  occurring.  II.  Some  Councils 
Directing  a  due  Improvement  of  the  terrible 
things,  lately  done,  by  the  Unusual  &  Amazing 
Range  of  Evil-Spirits,  in  Our  Neighbourhood  : 
&  the  methods  to  prevent  the  Wrongs  which 
those  Evil  Angels  may  intend  against  all  sorts 
of  people  among  us  ;  especially  in  Accusations 
of  the  Innocent.  III.  Some  Conjectures  upon 
the  great  Events,  likely  to  Ijcfall,  the  World  in 


24 

General,  and  New-England  in  Particular ;  as 
also  upon  the  Advances  of  the  Time,  when  we 
shall  see  Better  Dayes.  IV.  A  short  Nari-a- 
tive  of  a  late  Outrage  committed  by  a  knot  of 
Witches  in  Swedeland,  very  much  Resembling, 
and  so  far  Explaining,  That  under  which  our 
parts  of  America  have  laboured !  V.  The 
Devil  Discovered  :  In  a  Brief  Discourse  upon 
those  Temptations,  which  are  the  more  Ordi- 
nary Devices  of  the  Wicked  One.  By  Cotton 
Mather.  Boston.  Printed  b}'  Bcnj.  Harris  for 
Sam.  Phillips.  1693. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  books  relating  to  the  Salem 
witchcraft  delusion.  It  was  replied  to  by  Robert  Calef,  a  merchant 
of  Boston,  in  More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  published  in 
1700.  The  plain  facts  and  common-sense  arguments  completely  re- 
futed Mather,  and  contributed  most  essentially  to  a  change  of  public 
opinion.  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather,  however,  did  not  change  their 
opinions ;  the  former,  as  president  of  Harvard  College,  ordered 
Calef  s  book  to  be  burned  in  the  college  yard,  and  the  latter  insinu- 
ated that  Calef  could  get  his  "vile  volume"  published  in  London, 
while  his  own  books,  "  sent  over  to  Elngland,  with  a  design  to 
glorify  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  not  published  but  strangely 
delayed." 


236.  Ilale,  John.  A  Modest  Enquiry  Into  the  Nature  of 
Witchcraft,  And  How  Persons  Guilty  of  that 
Crime  may  be  Convicted  :  And  the  means  used 
for  their  Discovery  Discussed,  both  Negatively 
and  AtErmatively,  according  to  Scripture  and 
Experience.  By  John  Hale,  Pastor  of  the 
Church  of  Christ   in   Beverley  Aimo  Domini. 


25 

1697.     Boston  in  N.  E.     Printed  by  B.  Green, 
and  J.  Allen,  for  Benjamin    Eliot  under  the 
Town  House,  1702. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

The  rarest  of  all  the  works  relating  to  the  New  England  witch- 
craft delusion.  Rev.  John  Hale  was  minister  of  the  church  of  Bev- 
erly during  the  witchcraft  proceedings,  and  believed  the  devil  could 
enter  a  house  through  a  kej^hole.  He  was  active  in  prosecuting  the 
witches  until  in  October,  1692,  his  own  wife  was  accused  of  witch- 
craft. This  was  a  personal  application  of  the  delusion  which  had 
not  been  contemplated,  and  caused  him  to  view  it  from  a  different 
standpoint.  Of  course  his  wife  could  not  be  a  witch,  and  the  spell 
was  broken.  The  results  of  his  investigations  were  published  in 
1702  in  A  Modest  Inquiry,  &c.  After  discussing  the  subject  of 
witchcraft,  in  the  closing  chapter  he  says :  "  We  have  cause  to  be 
humbled  for  the  mistakes  and  errors  which  have  been  in  these  colo- 
nies, in  their  proceedings^against  persons  for  this  crime  above  forty 
years  and  downwards,  but  I  would  come  yet  nearer  to  our  times,  and 
bewail  the  errors  and  mistakes  that  have  been  in  the  year  1692 ;  in 
the  apprehending  to  many  we  may  believe  were  innocent,  executing 
of  some,  I  fear,  not  to  have  been  condemned." 


237.  Mason,  John.  A  Brief  History  of  the  Pequot  War  : 
Especially  Of  the  memorable  Taking  of  their 
Fort  at  Mistick  in  Connecticut  In  1637  :  Written 
by  Major  John  Mason,  A  principal  Actor  therein, 
as  then  chief  Captain  and  Commander  of  Con- 
necticut Forces.  With  an  Introduction  and 
some  Explanatory  Notes  P>y  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Thomas  Prince.  Bo.ston  :  Printed  &  S(;ld  by. 
S.  Kneeland  &  T.  Green  in  (^ucen-Street,  173G. 
Lent  by  The  Puhlic  Library  of  JJo.-iton. 

An  official  accovmt  of  our  first  great  Indian  war,  wriften  by  the 
commanding  oflicer  therein.  Capt.  Jo!in  Mason  was  born  in  I<:ii'4iand 
in  1600,  and   died  at   Norwich,  Conn.,  in    1672.     He  served    in    Ihe 


26 

Netherlands  under  Fairfax,  who  esteemed  him  so  highly  as  to  in- 
vite him  by  letter  to  join  his  standard  in  the  civil  war.  He  came  to 
Dorchester  in  1630,  but  removed  to  Windsor  in  1638.  The  principal 
event  of  the  Pequot  war,  which  was  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  terri- 
tory now  known  as  Connecticut,  was  the  destruction  of  the  Indian 
fort  at  Mystic,  In  May,  1637,  Mason  led  a  force  of  ninety  white  men 
and  several  hundred  Indians  under  Uneas  and  Miantonomah  against 
the  fort,  which  they  succeeded  in  surprising.  Entering  it  while  the  In- 
dians were  asleep,  they  set  fire  to  the  wigwams  and  killed  six  hun- 
dred of  the  fleeing  Indians,  men,  women  and  children,  losing  only 
two  of  their  own  men.  Being  joined  by  some  troops  from  Massa- 
chusetts under  Captain  Underbill,  the  Indians  were  pursued,  many 
were  killed  and  others  taken  prisoners,  some  of  whom  were  sold 
into  the  West  Indies  as  slaves.  By  these  disasters  the  formidable 
tribe  of  the  Pequots  was  nearly  annihilated. 

Alter  the  war  Mason  removed  to  Saybrook,  and  at  the  request  of 
the  General  Court  he  drew  up  and  published  a  history  of  the  Pequot 
war.    It  was  reprinted,  with  notes  b}'  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  in  1736. 


238.  Sewall,  Samuel.  Phenomena  qua?dam  Apocalyptica 
Ad  Aspectum  Novi  Orbus  configurata.  Or, 
some  few  Lines  towards  a  description  of  the 
New  Heaven  As  It  makes  to  those  who  stand 
upon  the  New  Earth.  By  Samuel  Sewall  A.M. 
and  sometime  Fellow  at  Harvard  College  at 
Cambridge  in  New-England.  The  Second  Edi- 
tion. Massachuset ;  Boston,  Printed  by  Bar- 
tholomew Green  :  And  sold  by  Benjamin  Eliot, 
Samuel  Gerrish  &  Daniel  Henchman  1727 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Written  by  Judge  Sewall,  a  famous  Bostonian  of  early  days,  and 
dedicated  "To  the  Honorable  Sir  William  Ashurst,  Knight  Gov- 
ernour,  and  the  Company  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
Indians  in  New  England  and  places  adjacent  in  America." 

Samuel  Sewall  was  born  in  10.")2,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1671,  and  was  "  Keeper  oi  the  College  Library"  in  167-1.     He  studied 


27 

divinity  and  occasionally  preached.  In  1G76  he  married  the  daughter 
of  John  Hull,  mint-master  and  treasurer  ol"  the  colony.  Retiring 
from  the  ministry,  he  engaged  in  business  pursuits,  became  a  com- 
mission merchant  and  was  appointed  manager  of  the  press  in  Boston. 
After  the  death  of  John  Hull,  in  1683,  he  devoted  his  time  to  the  man- 
agement of  his  father-in-law's  large  estate.  He  was  elected  deputy 
to  the  General  Court  in  1683  and  assistant  in  1684.  He  was  appointed 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in  1692,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mission appointed  for  the  trial  of  persons  suspected  of  witchcraft.  He 
afterwards  confessed  that  he  had  committed  a  great  error  in  the  course 
he  had  pursued  in  these  trials.  He  was  chief  justice  of  the  province 
in  1718,  and  judge  of  probate  from  171o  to  1728.     He  died  in  1730. 

His  name  will  always  be  rememliered  on  account  of  an  interesting 
diary  which  he  kept,  in  which  he  recorded  births,  marriages  and 
deaths,  narrated  the  gossip  and  scandal  of  the  time,  and  noted  re- 
markable events.  It  presents  a  faithful  picture  of  the  social,  theologi- 
cal and  political  conditions  of  early  days.  He  always  retained  his 
interest  in  religion,  and  in  1697  published  Fhcrjiomena  Quadarn,  in 
which  he  sets  up  the  hypothesis  that  the  "  Indians  are  the  descendants 
of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel  and  that  in  converting  them  to  Christianity 
we  should  be  showing  kindness  to  Israelites  unawares.''  He  says,  in 
the  introduction  :  •'  1  have  endeavoured  to  prove  that  America's  name 
is  to  be  seen  fairly  recorded  in  the  Scriptures.  That  Euphrates  .  . 
ought  to  be  limited  to  some  proper  place,  ibr  which  proper  place  I 
propound  the  New-World.  .  .  .  That  the  New-English  Planters 
were  the  forerunners  of  the  Kings  of  the  Ea.st :  and  as  the  Morning 
Star,  giving  certain  intelligence  that  the  San  of  Righteousness  will 
quickly  rise  and  shine  with  illustrious  gnicc  and  favour  upon  this 
despised  hemisphere." 

It  is  a  curious  mixture  of  theology,  lii.^tory  and  biography,  and. 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  his  theological  views,  it  will  always  be 
valuable  to  historians  and  genealogists. 

It  was  so  well  received  that  a  .second  edition  was  published  in 
1727. 

239.  Shepard,  Thomas.  The  Paral)le  of  the  Ten  Virgins 
opened  t'v:  applied  :  lieingthe  Sub.staiicc  of  divers 
SermonsonMatth.  25.  1,  .  .  .  13.  Wherein, 
the   Difference  between   the   Sin<'cre  Christian 


28 


and  the  most  Refined  Hypocrite,  the  Nature  & 
Characters  of  Saving  and  of  Common  Grace,  the 
Dangers  and  Diseases  incident  to  most  flourish- 
ing Churches  of  Christians,  and  other  Spiritual 
Truths  of  greatest  importance,  are  clearly  dis- 
covered, and  practically  Improved,  By  Thomas 
Shepard  Late  Worthy  and  Faithful  Pastor  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  at  Cambridge  in  New- 
England.  Now  published  from  the  Authors 
own  Notes,  at  the  desires  of  many,  for  the 
common  Benefit  of  the  Lords  people. 
Jonathan  Mitchell  Minister  at  Cam- 


bridge 


in 
New- 


By-jTho.  Shepard,  Son  to  the  Reverend 
Author, 
now  Minister  at  Charles-Town  : 
England.     Re-printed,  and  carefully  Corrected 
in  the  Year,  1695 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

A  well-known  book  by  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  which  was  reprinted 
in  popular  form  within  recent  years.  The  author  was  one  of  the 
most  prominent  of  the  New  England  divines.  He  was  born  in  Eng- 
land in  1605,  was  educated  at  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  and 
became  a  preacher  in  Earls  Coin  in  Essex,  Ijiit  was  silenced  for  non- 
conformity. He  came  to  New  England  in  ir)3o,  and  succeeded  Rev. 
Thomas  Hooker  as  pastor  of  the  First  (  hurch  in  Cambridge,  Mass. 
He  died  Aug.  25,  1649,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-four  years.  His 
name  is  still  held  in  grateful  remembrance,  and  the  building  in  which 
the  society  worships  is  known  as  the  Sliepard  Memorial  Church. 

240.  [Bradstreet,  Anne.]  Several  Poems  Compiled  with 
a  great  variety  of  Wit  and  Learning,  full  of 
Delights ;  AVherein  esi)ecial]y  i.s  contained  a 
complcat  Discourse,  and  Description  of 


29 

Elements 

„,     „  Constitutions, 

The  Four \  ,  ^  ,  ^      ' 

Ages  of  Man, 

Seasons  of  the  Year. 

Together  with  an  exact  Epitome  of  the  three 

first  Monarehyes 

I  Assyrian. 
Persian, 
Grecian, 
And  beginning  of  the  Romane  Common-wealth 
to  the  end  of  their  last  King  :    ^yith.  diverse 
other  pleasant  &  serious  Poems,     By  a  Gentle- 
woman   in  New-England.       The  second    Edi- 
tion,  Corrected  by  the  Author'  and   enlarged 
by  an  Addition  of  several  other  Poems  found 
among   her  Papers  after  her   Death     Boston, 
Printed  by  John  Foster,  1G78 
Lent  by  The  Public  Lihrar)/  of  Boston. 

Anne  Bradstreet  was  the  daughter  of  Gov.  Thomas  Dudley,  and 
■was  born  at  Northampton,  Eng.,  in  1612.  She  married  Simon  Brad- 
street,  afterwards  (iovernor  of  Massachusetts,  with  whom  she  came  to 
New  England  in  1630.  The  first  edition  of  her  poems  was  published 
in  London  in  1650,  entitled  The  Tenth  Muse  laUhj  spriaig  up  in 
America,  Or  Several  PoeinK,  compiled  with  Great  Variety  of  Wit  and 
Lear7ii7ig,  full  of  Delight.  She  died  in  1672,  and  in  1675  a  more 
comi)lete  edition  of  her  ))oenis  was  jmljlished  in  Boston,  which  con- 
tains what  is  considered  her  best  poon,  entitletl  i^oniemplations. 

Cotton  Mather  in  his  Magnalia  refers  to  her  work  as  follows: 
"these  poems  divers  times  printed  have  afl'ordcd  a  grateful  enter- 
tainment unto  the  ingenious,  and  a  monument  ibr  her  memory  beyond 
the  stateliest  marbles.''' 

Rev.  .John  Norton  styles  her  the  "  ])eerless  gcmtlewoiuan,  the  mir- 
ror of  her  age,  and  glory  of  her  sex."  Notwithstanding  those  ex- 
travagant praises,  Mrs.  Bradstreefs  poems  tliemselvcs  an;  witnesses 
that  she  was  not  devoid  of  imagination,  and  was  familiar  with  the 
best  thou^rhts  ol  the  a-re. 


30 

241.  Wise,  John.  The  Churches  Quarrel  Espoused  :  or 
a  Reply  In  Satyre,  to  certain  Proposals  made, 
in  Answer  to  this  Question,  What  further  Steps 
are  to  be  taken,  that  the  Councils  may  have  due 
Constitution  and  Efficacy  in  Supporting,  Pre- 
serving, and  Well-Ordering  the  Interest  of  the 
Churches  in  the  Country?  By  John  Wise, 
Pastor  to  a  Church  in  Ipswich.  The  Second 
Edition.  Boston,  Reprinted  :  Sold  by  Nicholas 
Boone,  at  the  Sign  of  the  Bible  in  Cornhill, 
1715 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  proposed  that 
all  the  ministers  form  themselves  into  associations  ;  that  the  pastors 
forming  such  an  association,  with  a  proper  number  of  delegates  from 
the  respective  churches,  should  constitute  a  standing  council  for  the 
determination  of  all  affairs  for  which  a  council  might  l)e  needed  ;  that 
the  association  direct  when  the  standing  council  shall  meet ;  that  no 
act  of  such  council  be  reckoned  as  conclusive  and  decisive  for  which 
there  has  not  been  the  concurrence  of  the  major  part  of  the  pastors 
therein  concerned,  etc. 

Many  of  the  ministers  and  laymen  opposed  their  "  Propositions '' 
as  endangering  the  "  liberties  of  the  churches,''  and  in  1713  John 
^Vise,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Ipswich,  published  The  Churches 
Quarrel  espoused ;  or  a  liejily  in  Saiyre  to  Ceiiain  Proposals  made, 
etc.,  and  in  1717,  A  Vindication  of  the  Government  of  New  England 
Churches,  etc.  The  ideas  advanced  in  these  publications  caused  the 
failure  of  the  attempt  of  the  proposers.  So  great  was  the  demand  for 
these  books  that  several  editions  were  printed,  and  the}'  are  frequently 
called  lor  at  the  present  day. 

Prof.  Moses  Coit  Tyler,  in  his  Ilislory  <f  Amei-ican  Literature 
speaks  of  The  Church's  Quarrel  espoused  as  "  a  book  that  by  its 
learning,  logic,  sarcasm,  humor,  invective,  its  consuming  earnest- 
ness, its  visions  of  great  truths,  its  flashes  of  triumphant  eloquence, 
eimjily  annihilated  the  scheme  it  assailed.  ...  It  is,  of  its  kind,  a 
work  of  art :  it  has  a  beginning,  a  middle,  and  end  —  each  part  in  fit 


31 

proportion,  and  all  connected  organically.  ...  It  is  a  piece  of  trium- 
phant logic,  brightened  by  wit,  and  ennobled  by  imagination;  a 
master  specimen  of  the  art  of  public  controversy." 

242.  Mather,  Increase.  Angelographia,  or  A  Discourse 
Concerning  the  Xature  and  Power  of  the  Holj 
Angels,  and  the  Great  Benefit  which  the  True 
Fearers  of  God  Receive  by  their  Ministry  :  De- 
livered in  several  Sermons  :  To  Avhich  is  added, 
A  Sermon  concerning  the  Sin  and  Misery  of  the 
Fallen  Angels  :  Also  a  Disquisition  concerning 
Angelical-Apparitions.  By  Increase  Mather, 
President  of  Harvard  Colledge,  in  Cambridge, 
and  Preacher  of  the  Gospel  at  Boston,  in  Xew- 
England.  Boston  in  X.  E.  Printed  by  B. 
Green  &  J.  Allen,  for  Samuel  Phillips  at  the 
Brick  Shop.  1696. 
Lent  hy  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Two  books  in  one  volume,  by  Rev.  Increase  Mather,  at  that  time 
president  of  Harvard  College.  In  the  first  book  he  asserts  his  belief 
in  the  existence  of  angels,  both  holy  and  fallen ;  that  they  are  real 
beings ;  that  the  holy  angels  are  to  wait  upon  the  Lord  and  do  his 
pleasure,  and  that  the  church  of  God  is  the  especial  object  of  their 
care  and  tutelage ;  tbat  the  fallen  angels,  who  were  once  without 
sin,  God  has  made  examples  of  judgment  without  mercy. 

The  second  book  is  A  Disijuisition  concerning  Angelical  Appari- 
tions, on  the  second  page  of  which  the  author  says :  "  We  in  New 
England  have  lately  seen  not  only  miserable  creatures  pinched, 
burnt,  wounded,  tortured  by  invisible  agents,  but  some  ecstatical 
persons,  who  have  strongly  imagined  that  they  have  been  attended 
with  cajlestial  visitants  revejiling  secret  and  future  things  to  them 
which  if  it  should  appear  to  be  dial)olical  imi)o.st.ure  or  tlie  effect  of 
an  hurt  imagination  only,  or  both,  it  may  (if  not  timely  prevent(Hl) 
be  of  dangerous  consequence  to  themselves  or  otiiers ;  on  which 
occasion  the  seasonable  question  or  case  of  conscience  whicli  I  am 
de.'sired   to  express  m}-  sentiments  concerning  is  mhcthrr  angelical 


32 

apparitions  may  in  these  days  be  expected :  and  if  so  how  they  may  be 
discerned  from,  Satanical  Illusions!'''  He  answered  by  the  following 
conclusions :  — 

"1.  Although  it  must  be  granted  that  in  the  days  of  the  Gospel, 
angelical  apparitions  are  not  so  frequent  as  under  the  Old  Testament, 
nevertheless  some  such  there  have  been  and  still  may  be. 

"  II.  Some  circumstances  attending  extraordinary  apparitions 
pretending  to  be  angelical  have  demonstrated  them  to  be  diabolical, 
others  have  rendered  them  suspicious. 

"  III.  Men  ought  to  be  very  cautious  of  admitting  or  hearkening 
unto  pretended  angelical  revelations." 

Each  of  these  conclusions  is  supported  by  citations  of  numerous 
reported  api^aritions. 

243.  Mather,  Increase.  An  Essay  for  the  Recording  of 
Illustrious  Providences  :  Wherein  an  Account 
is  given  of  many  Remarkable  and  very  Memo- 
rable Events,  which  have  hapened  this  last  Age, 
Especially  in  New-England.  By  Increase 
Mather,  Teacher  of  a  Church  at  Boston  in  New- 
England.  Boston  in  New-England,  Printed  by 
Samuel  Green  for  Joseph  Browning,  and  are  to 
be  Sold  at  his  Shop  at  the  corner  of  the  Prison- 
Lane  next  the  Town-House.  1684 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Rev  Increase  Mather  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  of 
his  age.  lie  was  educated  for  the  ministry  at  Harvard  College,  and, 
going  to  England,  obtained  literary  honors  at  Dublin  University,  be- 
ing then  only  nineteen  jesivs  of  age.  He  was  highly  distinguished 
for  his  attainments  in  mathematics,  philosophy,  history,  theology  and 
rabbinical  learning.  He  conversed  familiarly  in  Latin,  and  had  read 
the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  and  the  New  in  Creek.  He  was  or- 
dained pastor  of  the  North  Church  in  Boston,  May  27,  1664,  and  ful- 
filled his  duties  to  that  church  for  sixty-two  years.  He  was  the 
author  of  ninety-two  dLstinct  works. 

In  his  introduction  to  an  English  edition  of  the  I'Jssay,  Mr.  George 
Offer  says:  "Such  was  the  eminent  divine,  tJie  decided  patriot,  the 


33 

truthful  historian,  who  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  man,  collected, 
arranged,  and  published  these  Remarkable  Providences  and  Mar- 
vellous  Escapes  by  Sea  and  Land.  They  faithfully  delineate  the  state 
of  public  opinion  two  hundred  years  ago,  the  most  striking  feature 
being  an  implicit  faith  in  the  power  of  the  invisible  world  to  hold 
yisible  intercourse  with  man  :  —  not  the  angels  to  bless  poor  erring 
mortals,  but  of  demons  imparting  power  to  witches  and  warlocks 
to  injure,  terrify  and  destroy." 

The  title-page  of  this  book  was  set  up  twice ;  for  other  form 
see  449. 

244.  Prince,  Thomas.  A  Chronological  History  of  New- 
England  in  the  Form  of  Annals  :  being  A  sum- 
mary  and  exact  Account  of  the  most  material 
Transactions  and  Occurences  relating  to  This 
Country,  in  the  Order  of  Time  wherein  they 
happened,  from  the  Discovery  by  Capt.  Gos- 
nold  in  1602  to  the  Arrival  of  Governor  Belcher, 
in  1730.  With  an  Introduction,  Containing  A 
brief  Epitome  of  the  most  remarkable  Trans- 
actions and  Events  Abroad,  from  the  Creation  : 
Including  the  connected  Line  of  Time,  the 
Succession  of  Patriachs  and  Sovereigns  of  the 
most  famous  Kingdoms  &  Empires,  the  gi-adual 
Discoveries  of  America,  and  the  Progress  of  the 
Reformation  to  the  Discovery  of  New  England. 
By  Thomas  Prince  M.A.  Boston  N.  E. 
Printed  by  Kneeland  &  Green  for  S.  Gerrish 
MDCCXXXVI 

Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Our  first  American  dictionary  of  dates  Samuel  G.  Drake,  the 
historian  of  Boston,  refers  to  Rev.  Thomas  Prince  as  "  the  sun  of  New 
England  history  who  is,  to  all  that  went  before  him,  as  the  sun  to  the 
stars.  His  New  England  ('hronology  in  the  Eorin  of  Annals  \»  a 
model  work,  which  nothing  can  ever  supply  the  place  of."     Kev.  Mr 


34 

Wisner,  in  his  History  of  the  Old  South  Church,  says :  "  In  history 
and  chronology  especially  as  relating  to  this  country  his  labors  were 
prosecuted  with  unparalleled  industry  and  fidelity,  and  have  imposed 
on  posterity  a  great  and  lasting  obligation.  In  1703  while  at  college 
he  began  a  collection  of  books  and  public  and  private  papers  relating 
to  the  civil  and  religious  history  of  New  England  to  which  he  con- 
tinued to  make  valuable  additions  for  more  than  fifty  years.  He  also 
made  a  large  collection  of  classical  and  theological  works  and  books 
of  general  literature.  All  of  these  he  gave  at  his  decease  to  the 
church  and  congregation  of  which  he  had  been  minister.  His  in- 
dustry was  perfectly  astonishing.  All  his  studies  were  prosecuted 
with  carefu'ness,  fidelity  and  patience.  The  labor  of  preparing  his 
Chronological  History  was  enough  for  one  diligent  student  during 
many  years."  The  North  American  Review  says :  "  Of  the  Nev) 
England  Chronology,  so  far  as  it  extends,  there  has  been  no  difference 
of  opinion.  It  is  distinguished  for  its  accuracy  and  extreme  caution. 
It  is  a  work  of  the  greatest  utility,  and  almost  necessary  to  one  who 
would  form  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the  first 
planting  of  New  England." 

When  Mr.  Prince  published  it  he  presented  a  copy  to  the  General 
Court,  and  the  following  record  is  spread  upon  the  Journal  of  the 
House  :  "  The  House  being  informed  that  the  Rev.  Mr  Thomas  Prince 
was  at  the  door,  and  desired  admittance.  Ordered,  that  Mr.  Prince  be 
admitted  into  the  House,  and  coming  up  to  the  table,  he  addressed 
himself  to  Mr.  Speaker  and  the  House  in  the  following  manner, 
viz.,  —  Mr.  Speaker,  I  most  humbly  present  to  your  Honor  and  this 
Honorable  House  the  first  volume  of  my  Chronological  History  of 
New  England,  which  at  no  small  Expense  and  Pains  I  have  composed 
and  published  for  the  Instruction  and  Good  of  ray  country.  And  then 
he  made  compliment  of  one  of  the  books  to  Mr.  Speaker  by  present- 
ing it  to  him,  and  another  he  presented  to  and  for  the  use  of  the 
Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  laid  it  on  the  table, 
and  then  withdrew.'" 


245.  Wood,  William.  New  England's  Prospect,  being  A 
true,  lively,  and  experimental  Description  of 
that  part  of  America  commonly  called  Ncw- 
Engjland :     Discoverinjj     The    State     of    that 


35 

Country,  both  as  it  stands  to  oiir  new-come 
English  Planters  :  and  to  the  old  Xative  In- 
habitants, and  Laying  down  that  which  may 
both  enrich  the  knowledge  of  the  Mind-traveling 
Reader,  or  benefit  the  future  Voyager.  The 
Third  Edition.  By  William  Wood.  London, 
Printed  1639.  Boston,  New-England,  Re- 
printed, By  Thomas  and  John  Fleet,  in  Corn- 
hill  ;  and  Green  and  Russell,  in  Queen-Street, 
1764 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

The  first  American  edition.  It  was  first  publisheil  in  England  in 
1634,  and  has  been  reprinted,  both  in  England  and  America,  several 
times. 

William  Wood  came  to  New  England  in  1G29,  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  Lynn.  He  remained  here  four  years,  during  which  time 
he  visited  and  located  every  settlement,  including  tho-e  in  the  Mem- 
mac  valley.  lie  had  been  commissioned  to  report  a  full  answer  as 
to  the  cai)acities  and  character  of  the  territory  lie  was  to  explore,  for 
the  information  of  the  Puritans  in  England,  who  were  contemplating 
a  removal  to  New  England.  Upon  his  return  to  England  in  1633  he 
published  his  report,  entitled  Neiv  Knijlumr.^  Prospect,  which  con- 
tains the  location  of  twenty  New  England  settlements  and  describes 
their  members  and  a])pearances.  The  last  six  pages  contain  a  dic- 
tionary of  Indian  words.  It  is  the  earliest  printed  account  of  Alassa- 
chusetts,  and  is  embellished  with  a  Maj)  of  Ike  tioulh  Part  of  Ncir 
England,  as  it  is  platited  in  the  Yearc,  l(J.'i4 

246.  Mather,  Increase.  A  Kektioii  of  the  Troubles 
which  have  ha]>enod  in  Nc\v-Hiigl:md,  IJy  reason 
of  the  Indians  there.  From  the  Year  lliM.  to 
the  Year  1675.  Wherein  the  Frc(iuent  Con- 
spiracye.s  of  the  Indians  to  cutt  of  the  Knglisii, 
and  the  wonderful  iirovidencc  of  (iod,  in  dis- 
apointing  their  devices,  is  declared.      Together 


36 

with  an  Historical  Discourse  concerning  the 
Prevalency  of  Prayer  ;  shewing  that  New  Eng- 
lands  late  deliverance  from  the  Rage  of  the 
Heathen  is  an  eminent  Answer  of  Prayer.  By 
Increase  Mather  Teacher  of  a  Church  in  Boston 
in  New  England.  Boston,  Printed  and  sold  by 
John  Foster,  1677. 
Lent  hy  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

It  has  been  said  that  Mather  wrote  this  book  on  account  of  jealousy 
of  Hubbard,  who  wrote  his  Narrative  of  the  Troubles  ivith  the  In- 
dians about  the  same  time,  both  works  being  published  in  the  same 
year.  Mather  says  himself  that  he  wrote  it  on  account  of  a  letter 
which  he  "  received  from  a  worthy  person  who  upon  the  perusal  of 
that  Brief  Historical  Account  of  the  war  with  the  Indians  published  the 
last  summer,  importuned  me  to  write  the  story  of  the  Pequot  War." 
Whatever  its  cause  it  is  a  valuable  history,  and  adds  much  to  the 
early  history  of  New  England.  He  quotes  a  great  deal  from  the 
early  voyagers  and  travellers,  and  many  of  the  books  from  which  he 
makes  extracts  are  very  difficult  to  find  to-day  outside  the  large  libra- 
ries. He  refers  to  Hubbard's  Narrative,  and  adds,  "  Nevertheless 
it  hath  been  thought  needful  to  publish  this,  considering  that  most  of 
the  things  here  insisted  on,  are  not  so  much  as  once  taken  notice  of  in 
that  Narrative  ^'^ 

247.  Winthrop,  John.  A  Journal  Of  the  Transactions 
and  Occurrences  in  the  settlement  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  other  New-England  Colonies, 
from  the  year  1630  to  1644  :  Written  by  John 
Winthrop  Esq.  First  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts :  And  now  first  published  from  a  correct 
copy  of  the  original  Manuscript.  Hartford  : 
Printed  By  Elisha  Babcock.  MDCCXC. 
Lent  hy  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

As  the  writer  of  this  Journal  was  the  Governor  of  the  colony  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  for  a  large  portion  of  the  time  from  the  com- 


37 

mencement  until  1649,  and  was  an  actor  in  as  well  as  an  eye-witness 
of  many  of  the  incidents  and  events  which  he  records,  we  are,  as  it 
were,  admitted  behind  the  scenes,  and  are  able  to  observe  the  springs 
of  action  which  brought  about  certain  results  in  the  early  days  of  the 
colony.  It  is  a  storehouse  of  information,  and  may  well  be  called  the 
cornerstone  of  New  England  history.  It  describes  not  only  the  early 
life  but  also  the  character  and  methods  of  our  Puritan  ancestors,  and 
has  no  superior,  if,  indeed,  it  has  an  equal.  After  the  death  of  the 
writer  it  was  allowed  to  remain  in  manuscript,  although  consulted  by 
all  the  early  writers,  until  1790,  when  it  was  published  under  the 
supervision  of  Noah  Webster. 

248.  [Mather,  Cotton.]  Bonifacius.  An  Essay  Upon 
the  Good,  that  is  to  be  Devised  and  Designed 
by  those  Who  Desire  to  Answer  the  Great  End 
of  Life,  and  to  Do  Good  While  they  Live.  A 
Book  Offered,  First,  in  General,  unto  all  Chris- 
tians, in  a  Personal  Capacity,  or  in  a  Relative. 
Then  more  Particularly,  Unto  Magistrates, 
unto  Ministers,  unto  Physicians,  unto  Law- 
yers, unto  Scholemasters,  unto  Wealthy  Gen- 
tlemen, unto  several  Sorts  of  Officers,  unto 
Churches,  and  unto  all  Societies  of  a  Religious 
Character  and  Intention.  With  Humble  Pro- 
posals, of  Unexceptionable  Methods,  to  Do 
Good  in  the  World.  Boston  in  N.  England  : 
Printed  by  B.  Green  for  Samuel  Gerrish  at 
his  Shop  in  Corn  Hill  1710. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

One  of  Cotton  Mather's  best  books,  to  the  remarkable  value  of 
which  Benjamin  Franklin  testifies  as  follows :  "  When  I  was  a  boy  I 
met  with  a  book  entitled  'Essays  to  do  (iood.'  It  had  been  so  little 
regarded  Vjy  its  former  possessor  that  several  leaves  were  torn  out, 
but  the  remainder  gave  me  such  a  turn  of  thinking  as  to  have  an  in- 
fluence on  my  conduct  through  life." 


38 

The  object  of  the  book  is  to  counteract  the  propensity  to  indolence 
by  suggesting  motives  to  action,  reasons  for  exertion  and  methods  of 
usefulness.  The  book  was  very  popular,  and  passed  through  many 
editions. 

249.  Mayhew,  Experience.  Indian  Converts :  or,  some 
Account  of  the  Lives  and  Dying  Speeches  of  a 
considerable  Number  of  the  Christianized  In- 
dians of  Martha's  Vine3^ard,  in  New-England. 
Viz.  I.  Of  Godly  Ministers.  II.  Of  other 
Good  Men.  III.  Of  Religious  Women.  IV. 
Of  Pious  young  Persons .  By  Experience  May- 
hew.  M.A.  Preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Indians 
of  that  Island.  To  which  is  added,  Some 
Account  of  those  English  ]Ministers  who  have 
successively  presided  over  the  Indian  Work  in 
that  and  the  adjacent  Islands  by  Mr.  Prince. 
London,  Printed  for  Samuel  Gerrish,  Book- 
seller in  Boston  in  New-England  ;  and  sold  by 
J.  Osborn  and  T.  Longman  in  Paternoster- 
Row,  MDCCXXVII. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

An  account  of  the  lives  of  thirty  Indian  ministers  and  eighty  In- 
dian men,  women  and  children  who  had  been  converted  to  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  who  were  worthy  of  being  remembered  on  account 
of  their  pure  lives.  Rev.  Thomas  Prince  has  added  at  the  end,  under 
a  separate  title,  Some  Account  of  those  English  Ministers  who  have 
successively  pre.9zrftrf  over  the  Lidian  Work  in  that  and  Adjacent 
Islands 

Rev.  Experience  Mayhew,  born  in  1673,  died  in  1758,  was  minis- 
ter at  Martha's  Vineyai'd,  and,  like  Rev.  John  VA'iot,  devoted  much 
time  to  civilizing  and  Christianizing  the  Indians.  He  published  in 
1709  The  Massachusetts  Psalter;  or  Psalnis  of  ffarid  icith  the  Gospel 
according  to  John,  in  columns  of  Indian  and  English,  which,  next 
to  Eliot's  Indian  Hible,  is  considered  the  most  important  monument 
of  the  Massachuset  lan£:ua"e. 


39 

250.  [Ward,  Nathaniel.]  Guard,  Theodore  de  la.  The 
Simple  Cobler  of  Aggawam  in  America.  Will- 
ing to  help  jVIend  his  Native  Country,  lament- 
ably tattered,  both  in  upper-Leather  and  sole, 
with  all  the  honest  stitches  he  can  take.  And 
as  willing  never  to  be  paid  for  his  work  by 
Old  English  wonted  pay.  It  is  his  Trade  to 
patch  all  the  year  long,  gratis.  Therefore  I 
Pray  Gentleman  keep  your  Purses.  By  Theo- 
dore de  la  Guard.  The  Fifth  Edition,  with 
some  Amendments.  London  :  Printed  by  J. 
D.  &  R.  T.  Reprinted  at  Boston  in  N.  Eng- 
land, for  Daniel  Henchman,  at  his  Shop  in 
King  Street,  1713. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Nathaniel  Ward,  the  author  of  the  Simple  Cobler  was  one  of 
the  independent  writers  of  the  early  days  in  Massachusetts,  whose 
works  abound  with  wit,  quaintness  and  sagacity.  Indeed,  Rev. 
Cotton  Mather  says  "  his  wit  made  him  known  to  more  Englands 
than  one."  He  was  bom  at  Haverhill,  Eng.,  in  1570.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  taking  his  degree  of  A.B.  in 
1600,  and  that  of  A.M.  in  1603.  He  was  for  some  time  a  barrister, 
but  about  1618  entered  the  ministry  and  became  rector  at  Stanton,  in 
England.  Silenced  for  non-conformity  in  1634,  he  came  to  New 
England.  Having  been  invited  to  become  the  minister  at  Agawam, 
he  accepted,  and  was  installed  in  December  of  that  year.  In  1636  he 
resigned,  on  account  of  ill  health.  His  legal  knowledge  was  now  of 
great  benefit  to  him,  as  at  the  session  of  the  (General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts which  began  in  March,  1638,  he  was  appointed  on  a  com- 
mission to  prepare  a  code  of  laws  for  the  Massachusetts  colony. 

In  1645  Mr.  Ward  commenced  to  write  the  Simple  (hblcr,  which 
was  completed  in  the  autumn  of  1645  and  sent  to  P^ngland  for 
publication,  where  it  appeared  in  January,  1647.  The  cause  which 
had  forced  Ward  to  leave  England  had  been  removed,  and  he  re- 
turned to  the  mother  country,  arriving  shortly  after  the  j)ublicatioii 
of  his  book.     Ward  was  well  acquainted  with  many  of  the  leaders  of 


40 

Parliament,  and  his  book,  in  the  main,  was  on  their  side.  "In  it 
assuming  the  character  of  a  cobbler  who  had  exiled  himself  to  the 
new  world,  and  who  in  safety,  but  not  without  strong  interest,  now 
looked  upon  the  political  and  religious  storms  which  were  sweeping 
over  his  native  country,  he  utters  quaint  reflections  and  pungent 
satire  upon  the  times."  He  was,  however,  opposed  to  the  extremists 
in  Parliament,  who  demanded  the  legal  recognition  of  toleration  in 
religion  and  the  establishment  of  a  republic. 

His  book  was  well  received,  and  passed  through  four  editions  in 
the  first  year.  The  first  American  edition  is  presumed  to  be  the 
one  printed  in  Boston  in  1713.  Mr.  Ward  was  one  of  our  earliest 
American  authors,  and  his  services  in  connection  with  our  first 
code  of  laws  have  made  his  name  familiar  to  readers  of  New  Eng- 
land history. 


320.  [Breeches  Bible.]  Title  Page  missing.  "  John  Alden 
his  booke  "  on  fly  leaf  of  The  New  Testa-ment 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Translated  out  of  the 
Greeke  by  Theod.  Beza  :  With  briefe  Summaries 
and  expositions  upon  the  hard  places  by  the  said 
Authour,  Joac.  Caraer.  and  P.  Loseler,  Villerius. 
Englished  by  L.  Tomson.  Together  with  An- 
notations of  Fr.  Sunius  upon  the  Revelation  of 
S.  John.  Imprinted  at  London  by  the  Deputies 
of  Christopher  Barker,  Printer  to  the  Queenes 
most  Excellent  Magistie.  1599 
Lent  by  Mr.  Charles  P.  Greenough. 


321.  [Prince,  Thomas.]  The  Psalms,  Hymns,  &  Spirit- 
ual Songs,  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
Faithfully  translated  into  English  Metre.  Being 
the  New-England  Psalm-Book  Revised  and  Im- 
proved ;  By  an  Endeavour  after  a  yet  nearer 


41 

Approach  to  the  inspired  Original,  as  well  as 
to  the  Rules  of  Poetry.  With  an  Addition  of 
Fifty  other  Hymns  on  the  most  important  Sub- 
jects of  Christianity ;  with  their  Titles,  placed 

in  Order,  from The  Fall  of  the  Angels 

and  Men,  to Heaven  after  the  General 

Judgement. 

Boston  :  N.  E.  Printed,  and  Sold  by  D.  Henchman, 
in  Cornhill  and  S.  Kneeland  in  Queenstreet. 
1758. 

Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

This  revision  of  the  New  England  version  ol'  the  "  Psalms  "  was 
undertaken  by  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  at  the  request  of  a  committee  of 
the  Old  South  Society,  from  a  fear,  as  he  says  in  the  preface,  "  that 
the  New-England  Version  would  be  wholly  laid  aside  in  our  Churches 
on  account  of  the  flatnesses  in  diverse  places,"  and  should  rather  be 
mended  and  preserved.  In  the  preface  he  also  describes  the  method 
pursued  and  the  vast  amount  of  literary  labor  performed  in  making 
this  revision.  It  was  begun  April  29, 1755,  and  "  thro  multitudes  of 
avocations,  interruptions  and  infirmities"  finished  March  20,  1757. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  church  and  congregation  Oct.  9,  1758,  it  was 
accepted,  to  be  used  in  public  worship  on  and  after  the  last  Sabbath 
in  that  month.  It  was  also  voted  "  that  these  Psalms  be  sung  without 
reading  line  by  line  as  has  been  usual ;  except  on  evening  lectures 
and  extraordinary  occasions,  when  the  assembly  can't  be  generally 
furnished  with  books."  This  revision  was  used  in  public  worship 
by  the  Old  South  Society  until  October,  1786,  when  Watts  was  sub- 
stituted. Mr.  Prince  added  to  the  original  version  fifty  hymns,  "  which 
are  not  Versions  of  the  Scriptures  but  Pious  Songs  derived  from  them 
by  Dr.  Watts  and  others."  There  are  also  bound  in  at  the  end  sixteen 
pages  of  music,  handsomely  engraved  on  copper. 


322.  [Harris,  Benjamin.]  The  New-England  Primer 
Improved  For  the  more  easy  attaining  the 
true  reading  of  English  To  AVhich  Is  Added 


42 

The  Assembly  of  Divines  Catechism.  Bos- 
ton :  Printed  and  Sold  by  the  Book-Sellers. 
MDCCLXXXIV. 

Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

From  Terj  early  times  the  church  recognized  the  duty  of  teaching 
children  the  principles  of  religion.  The  school  was  the  handmaid  of 
the  church,  and  in  the  church  schools  was  obtained  all  the  education 
the  children  received.  The  first  Protestant  primer  was  published  by 
Melanchthon  in  1519.  After  Henry  VIII.  renounced  his  allegiance  to 
the  Pope  he  caused  to  be  printed,  in  1545,  Hie  Primer,  in  Englv^h 
and  Latin  set  forth  by  the  Kync/es  Majcstie  and  his  Clergie  to  he 
taught  learned  and  read :  and  None  Other  to  be  used  throiighout  All 
his  Dominions.  The  Puritans,  however,  Avould  not  accept  it,  but 
issued  one  of  their  own,  entitled  The  A  B  C  both  in  Latyn  and  in 
Englyshe.  The  New  England  colonists  used  a  Puritan  primer, 
which  was  known  as  a  "  common  primer.''  As  no  copy  has  come 
down  to  us,  it  is  not  known  how  it  was  made  up,  but  it  is  presumed 
to  have  been  a  "  common  primer"  which  Rev.  John  Eliot  translated 
into  the  Indian  language.  In  1668  Marmaduke  Johnson  of  Cam- 
bridge printed  a  primer  which  is  presumed  to  have  been  a  copy  of 
the  "  common  primer." 

It  is  pretty  well  established  that  the  Nciv  England  Primer  was 
composed  by  Benjamin  Harris,  a  Boston  bookseller,  and  first  pub- 
lished in  1690.  The  date  of  the  earliest  known  copy  is  1725.  The 
primer  was  the  reading  book  of  the  elementary  schools.  The  Neii' 
England  Primer  drove  out  all  the  other  primers,  and  remained  in 
general  use  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century,  and  its  sales  have 
been  numbered  by  millions.  From  its  extensive  use  in  teaching  the 
catechism  it  has  been  called  "  The  Little  Bible  of  New  J^noflaud." 


323.  [Prince,  Thomas.]  A  Sermon  Delivered  By 
Thomas  Prince,  M.A.  On  Wednesday, 
October  1.  1718.  at  his  Ordination  to  the 
Pastoral  Charge  Of  the  South  Church  in 
Boston,  N.  E.  In  Conjunction  with  the  Rever- 
end   Mr.    Joseph    Sewall    Together  with   The 


43 

Charge,  By  the  Reverend  Increase  Mather, 
D.D.  And  a  Copy  of  what  was  said  at  giving 
the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  :  By  the  Rev- 
erend Cotton  Mather,  D.D.  To  which  is  added 
A  Discourse  Of  the  Validity  of  Ordination  by 
the  Hands  of  Presl)yters,  Previous  to  Mr. 
8e wall's  on  September  16.  1713.  By  the  Late 
Reverend  and  Learned  Mr.  Ebenezer  Peni- 
berton,  Pastor  of  the  same  Church.  Boston  : 
Printed  by  J.  Franklin  for  S.  Gerrish,  and  Sold 
at  his  Shop  near  the  Old  Meeting  House.  1718. 
Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

Although  our  ancestors  disliked  many  of  the  forms  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church  of  England,  yet  when  they  came  to  form  their  churches 
in  New  England  they  experienced  great  difficulty  in  deciding  what 
should  be  the  forms  and  ceremonies  to  Ije  used.  How  the  ordinations 
should  be  conducted,  and  what  the  forms  should  be,  proved  to  be  a 
stumbling  block,  and  opened  up  a  large  field  for  debate,  and  became 
a  question  for  the  synods.  In  the  early  days  holidays  were  few,  and 
when  an  ordination  was  to  be  held  that  day  was  a  holiday  for  all  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood.  Our  early  town  records  furnish  some 
curious  facts  concerning  the  observation  of  those  days.  A  large  jiart 
of  our  early  literature  is  made  up  of  accounts  of  the  exercises  which 
took  place  at  the  various  ordinations.  The  ordination  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Prince  is  especially  interesting  I\lr.  Prince  had  recently  returned 
from  Europe,  and  on  Sept  5,  1717,  had  i)rcached  the  Thanksgiving 
sermon  at  Boston,  "  in  the  hearing  of  a  multitudinous  auditoiy,  many 
belonging  to  the  adjacent  towns  being  present."  Several  chun^lies 
were  trying  to  secure  him  as  pastor,  but  he  accepted  the  call  from  the 
South  Church  of  Boston,  and  was  ordained  (Jet.  1,  1718,  in  conjunction 
with  Rev.  Joseph  Sewall.  The  charge  was  delivered  by  Rev.  Increase 
Mather,  and  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  by  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  the 
two  most  prominent  divines  in  New  England. 


44 

324.  Morton,  Charles.  The  Spirit  of  Man  :  or,  Some 
Meditations  (by  way  of  Essay)  on  the  Sense 
of  that  Scripture.  Thes.  5.  23.  And  the  very 
God  of  Peace  Sanctifie  you  wholly,  and  I  pray 
God,  your  whole  Spirit,  and  Soul,  and  Body, 
be  Preserved  Blameless  unto  the  Coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Clirist.  By  Charles  Morton, 
IMinister  of  the  Gospel  at  Charlestown  in  New- 
England.  Boston.  Printed  by  B.  Harris,  for 
Duncan  Campbell,  at  the  Dock-Head,  over 
against  the  Conduit,  1693. 
Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

Charles  Morton  was  born  at  Pendary,  in  Cornwall,  about  1626. 
He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  took  holy  orders  and  began  his  ministry 
at  Blisland,  in  Cornwall.  Having  embraced  the  cause  of  the  Puri- 
tans, he  was  ejected  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity  of  1662,  He  then 
established  an  academy  for  the  instruction  of  youth  at  Newington 
Green,  near  London,  which  acquired  great  celebrity.  Here  he  re- 
mained twenty  j'ears.  Having  been  invited  to  become  the  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Charlestown  he  removed  to  New  England,  and  was 
installed  Xov.  5, 1686.  His  reputation  for  excellence  in  teaching  was 
so  great  that  many  desired  him  to  be  president  of  Harvard  College. 
The  following  sketch  of  his  character,  given  by  John  Dunton  in  his 
Life  and  Errors,  cannot  be  improved  :  "  Upon  my  coming  to  Boston 
I  heard  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Morton  (so  much  celebrated  in  England  for 
his  piety  and  learning)  was  just  arrived  from  England.  Mr.  Morton 
did  me  the  honour  to  declare  he  was  very  g'ad  to  see  me.  .  .  .  The 
news  of  his  arrival  was  received  here  with  extraordinary  joy  l)y  the 
people  in  general,  and  they  had  reason  for  it :  for  besides  his  being  a 
usefull  man  in  fitting  young  men  for  the  ministry  he  always  gave  a 
mighty  character  of  New  England,  which  occasioned  many  to  fly  to 
it  from  the  persecution  which  was  then  raging  in  London.  .  .  .  His 
conversation  showed  him  a  gentleman.  He  was  the  very  soul  of 
philosoph}".  .  .  .  He  was  the  repository  of  all  arts  and  sciences  and 
of  the  graces  too.  His  discourses  were  not  stale,  or  studied,  but 
always  new  and  occasional  ;  for,  whatever  subject  was  at  any  time 


45 

started,  he  had  still  some  pleasant  and  pat  story  for  it.  His  sermons 
were  high,  but  not  soaring ;  practit-al,  but  not  low.  His  memory  was 
as  vast  as  his  knowledge  yet  (so  great  was  his  humility)  he  knew  it 
the  least  of  any  man.  He  was  as  far  from  pride  as  ignorance ;  and 
if  we  may  judge  of  a  man's  religion  by  his  charity,  he  was  a  sincere 
christian.  Mr.  Morton  being  thus  accom})lished  .  .  .  must  be  the 
fittest  to  bring  up  young  men  to  the  Ministry,  of  any  iu  England,  in 
a  word  Mr.  Charles  Morton  (late  of  Xewington  Green)  was  that  pious 
and  learned  man,  by  whose  instructions  my  Reverend  and  worthy 
uncle  Mr.  Obadiah  Marriat  was  so  well  qualified  for  the  work  of 
the  Ministry.  To  this  I  might  add  that  Mr.  John  Shower  and  other 
eminent  preachers  owe  that  fame  they  have  in  the  world  to  his  great 
skill  in  their  education." 


325.  [Mather,  Cotton.]  The  Accomplished  Singer. 
Instruction.s  How  the  Pietv  of  Sin^ins:  with  a 
True  Devotion,  may  be  ol)tained  and  expressed  ; 
the  Glorious  God  after  an  uncommon  manner 
Glorified  in  it,  and  His  People  Edified  Intended 
for  the  Assistance  of  all  that  would  Sing  Psalms 
with  Grace  in  their  Hearts  ;  But  more  particu- 
larly to  accompany  the  Laudable  Endevours  of 
those  who  are  Learning  to  Sing  by  Rule,  and 
seeking  to  preserve  a  Kegular  Singing  in  the 
Assemblies  of  the  Faithful  Boston  :  Printed 
by  B.  Green,  for  S.  Gerrish,  at  his  Shop  in 
Cornhill  1721. 
Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Liilleficld. 

The  order  of  service  in  tlie  Xew  Encland  ;-hur.hes.  copied  from 
the  primitive  churches,  was,  firsf,  ihc  longer  prayer;  second,  siiigiiig 
a  psalm  :  third,  the  sermon  ;  rourfli,  i\w.  shorter  pruycr ;  and  fifth,  tlie 
singing  of  another  j)salni.  In  some  churches  the  assembly,  being 
furnished  with  psalm  books,  sung  witlioul  the  stoj)  of  reading  between 
every  line:  but  ordinarily  tht;  psalm  was  read,  line  alter  line,  by 
whomever  the  pastor  apjjointcd,  ami  the  people  "  generally  sung  in 


46 

such  grave  tunes  as  are  most  usual  in  the  churches  of  our  nation  " 
The  Massachusetts  Bay  churches  did  not  admit  into  their  public  ser- 
vices any  other  than  the  Fsabns,  Hyiiins  and  Spiritual  Songf<  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  faithfully  translated  into  Englv<h  Metre  Writing 
in  1726,  Cotton  Mather  says  :  '•  Their  psalmody  has  been  commended 
by  strangers  as  not  worse  than  what  is  in  many  other  parts  of  the 
world,  but  rather  as  being  usually  melodious  and  agreeable.  How- 
ever of  later  times  they  have  considerably  reformed  and  refined  it, 
and  more  than  a  score  of  tunes  are  heard  regularly  sung  in  their 
assemblies  " 

In  1699  the  Brattle  Street  Society  voted  to  dispense  with  the 
custom  of  reading  and  singing  the  psalms  line  by  line  alternately. 
Singing  by  note  was  first  practiced  in  Boston  by  this  society,  and  the 
first  singing  society  was  established  by  its  members  between  1717  and 
1724  Singing  by  note  occasioned  quite  a  controversy,  some  favoring 
and  others  opposing,  and  many  years  passed  before  the  question  was 
settled.  In  1721  Rev.  John  Tufts  of  Newbury  wrote  and  published 
what  is  believed  to  be  the  first  music  book  published  in  this  country. 
In  the  same  year  Rev.  Thomas  Walter  of  Roxbury  brought  out  The 
Grounds  and  Rules  of  Music  explained,  containing  fifteen  pages  of 
engraved  music,  claimed  to  be  the  first  music  printed  with  bass  in 
America.  Rev.  Thomas  Symmes  of  Bradford  preached  a  sermon  in 
1721,  printed  in  1722,  which  he  says,  in  tlie  prefact%  "  was  partly  oc- 
casioned by  a  most  unhappy  and  unreasonable  controversy  about 
Singing  by  Note." 

Also,  Rev.  Cotton  Mather  brought  out  in  1721  The  Accomplished 
Singer,  intended,  as  he  says,  "  more  particularly  to  accompany  the 
Laudable  Endeavours  of  tho.se  who  are  Learning  to  Sing  by  Rule." 


326.  Mather,  Cotton.  The  Triuaiph.s  of  the  Reformed 
Religion  in  America.  The  Life  of  the  Re- 
nowned John  Eliot ;  A  Person  justly  Famous  in 
the  Church  of  God,  Not  only  as  an  Eminent 
Christian,  and  an  Excellent  Minister,  among 
the  English,  But  also,  As  a  INIemorable  Evan- 
gelist among  the  Indians,  of  New-England  ; 
With  some  Account  concerning  the  late,  and 


47 

strange  Success  of  the  Gospel,  in  those  parts 
of  the  World,  which  for  many  Ages  have  lain 
Buried  in  Pagan  Ignorance.  Written  by  Cot- 
ton Mather.  Boston,  Printed  by  Benjamin 
Harris,  and  John  Allen,  for  Joseph  Brunning 
at  the  corner  of  the  Prison-Lane.  1(591 
Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlejield. 

Cotton  Mather  presents  us  with  the  life  of  that  remarkable  man, 
Rev.  John  Eliot,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1631,  and,  having 
been  appointed  teacher  of  the  church  at  Roxbury,  added  to  his  labors 
by  endeavoring  to  Christianize  the  Indians.  Mather  tells  us  how  Eliot 
experienced  diflSculties  that  he  had  not  anticipated,  and  how  he  over- 
came those  difficulties.  How  he  discovered  that  before  the  Indians 
would  be  able  to  understand  the  truths  of  Christianity  they  must  first 
be  civilized ;  they  must  be  induced  to  give  up  their  nomadic  life ; 
they  must  be  taught  to  read  and  write  ;  and  that,  in  order  to  present 
to  them  the  gospel  truths  in  a  convincing  manner,  he  must  preach 
and  teach  in  their  language.  How  he  himself  became  a  pupil,  and 
by  what  means  he  became  proficient  in  that  language  How  he 
taught  several  of  the  young  Indians  to  be  preachers  and  teachers. 
How  he  translated  into  the  Indian  language  several  theological 
treatises  and  the  English  Bible ;  and  finally,  how,  after  ovei'coming 
seemingly  insurmountable  difficulties,  he  succeeded  in  gathering 
many  Indian  families  into  a  town,  showed  them  how  to  support 
themselves  by  the  arts  of  civilization,  taught  them  how  to  build 
houses  and  a  church,  and,  having  induced  them  to  adopt  a  code  of 
laws  similar  to  the  English  code,  moulded  them  into  a  Christian 
communiiy. 

Cotton  Mather  painted  a  tnie  and  interesting  picture,  inasmuch  as 
he  had  the  benefit  of  association  with  many  persons  who  were  in- 
terested with  Eliot  in  his  humanitarian  efl'orts. 


327.  Shepard,  Thomas.  [Catechism.]  The  First  Prin- 
ciples of  the  Oracles  of  (iod  Collected  by 
Thomas  Shepard,  Formerly  of  Kmanucl  College 
in  Cambridge  in    Fngland  :   afterwards  Minis- 


48 

ter  of  Cambridge  in  New-England.     Boston  : 
Printed   and   Sold    by  Kogers   and   Fowle  in 
Queen-street  1747. 
Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

In  June,  1641,  at  a  meeting  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
it  is  '•  desired  that  the  elders  would  make  a  catechism  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  youth  in  the  grounds  of  religion/"  That  this  desire  of  the 
General  Court  was  acted  upon  is  shown  by  a  statement  of  Rev.  In- 
crease Mather,  in  the  jjreface  of  a  book  published  in  1679,  which 
reads:  "These  last  ages  have  abounded  in  labours  of  this  kind:  one 
speaketh  of  no  less  than  five  hundred  Catechisms  extant :  which  of 
these  is  most  eligible,  I  shall  leave  others  to  determine.  I  suppose 
there  is  no  particular  Catechism,  of  which  it  maj*  be  said,  it  is  the 
best  for  every  family,  or  for  every  congregation." 

Kev.  Thomas  Shepard,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Cambridge,  Mass., 
from  1636  to  1649  prepared  a  catechism  entitled  The  First  Principles 
of  the  Oracles  of  Qod.  It  was  first  published  in  London  in  1648. 
Apparently  the  first  American  edition  was  published  in  Boston  in 
1747,  a  copy  of  which  is  exhibited. 


328.  Hill,  Thomas.  The  Young  Secretary's  Guide  :  or 
A  speedy  help  to  Learning.  In  Two  Parts. 
Part  I.  Containing  the  most  curious  Art  of  In- 
diting familiar  Letters,  relating  to  Business  in 
Merchandise,  Trade,  Correspondence,  Famil- 
iarity, Friendship,  and  on  all  occasions  :  also 
Instructions  for  Directing,  Superscribing  and 
Subscribing  of  Letters  with  due  Respect  to  the 
Titles  of  Persons  of  Quality  and  others  :  Rules 
for  Pointing  and  Capitalling  in  Writing,  &c. 
LikcAvise  a  short  English  Dictionary,  Explain- 
ing hard  Words.  Part  II.  Containing  the 
nature  of  Writings  Obligatory,  &c.  With  Ex- 
amples of  Bonds,  Bills,  Letters  of  Attorney, 


49 

Deeds  of  Sale,  of  Mortgage,  Releases,  Ac- 
quittances, WaiTant  of  Attorney,  Deeds  of 
Gift,  Assignments,  Counter  Security,  Bills  of 
Sale,  Letters  of  License,  Apprentices  Indent- 
ures, Bills  of  Exchange,  &  many  other  Writ- 
ings made  b}'^  Scriveners,  &c.,  With  a  Table  of 
Interest  Made  suitable  to  the  People  of  New- 
England.  The  Sixth  Edition.  With  large  and 
useful  Additions.  By  Thomas  Hill,  Gent. 
Boston  Reprinted  for  Nicholas  Boone  at  the 
Bible  in  Cornhill,  1727. 
Lent  hy  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

An  American  reprint  of  a  little  English  compendium  which  was 
used  not  only  in  the  schools,  but  was  also  very  much  in  demand  by 
young  men  and  women  who  had  not  received  a  school  education,  or 
whose  school  days  had  been  of  short  duration.  Faithfully  studied  it 
would  qualify  a  young  person  for  business  without  the  help  of  a 
master.  The  seventh  English  edition  was  published  in  1G96,  and  the 
twenty-seventh  in  1764.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  introduced  to 
America  by  John  Allen,  the  well-known  Boston  printer,  and  the 
earliest  American  edition  known  to  be  extant,  the  third,  bears  tlie 
imprint  "  Boston  in  New  England,  Printed  by  H  Green  &  J  Allen 
for  S.  Phillips  at  the  Brick-Shop.  1703."  Pages  49  to  56  inclusive 
contain  An  English  Dictionary ,  which,  so  far  as  known,  is  the  earliest 
dictionary  published  in  New  England.  The  twenty-fourth  Ameri- 
can edition  was  printed  in  Boston  in  1750.  Similar  books  are  very 
much  in  demand  at  the  present  day,  and  are  known  as  a  Commercial 
Letter-Writer. 

329.  Strong,  Nathaniel.  England's  Perfect  School-Master, 
or  Directions  for  exact  Spelling,  Heading,  and 
Writing.  Shewing  how  to  Speil  or  read  any 
Chapter  in  the  Bible  by  four  and  twenty  Words 
only.  AVith  Examples  of  most  Words,  from 
one  to  six  Sylables,  both  in  whole  Words,  and 


50 

also  divided :  AVith  Rules  how  to  Spell  them. 
Also  how  to  Spell  all  such  Words  which  are 
alike  in  Sound,  yet  diflfer  in  their  Sense  and 
Spelling.  Together  with  the  true  meaning  and 
use  of  all  Stops  &  Points  to  be  observed  by  all 
that  would  Read  and  Write  well.  With  a 
Table  of  Orthography,  shewing  how  to  write 
true  English  As  also  Variety  of  Pieces  both  of 
English  and  Latin  Verse,  on  the  most  remark- 
able Passages  mentioned  in  Scripturre,  and  very 
useful  for  Writing-Schools .  Lastly,  Directions 
for  Writing  Letters,  Acquittances,  Bills  of 
Exchange,  Bills  of  Parcels,  Bills  of  Debts, 
Bonds,  &'c.  How  to  state  Accompts  aright.. 
&c.  The  Thirteenth  Edition,  much  Enlarged. 
By  Nathaniel  Strong,  School-^NIaster  in  London  : 
At  the  Hand  &  Pen  on  Great-Tower-Hill,  in 
Red-Cow  Alley.  Boston  in  N.  E.  Reprinted 
for  N.  Buttolph,  B.  Eliot,  and  D.  Henchman 
and  Sold  at  their  Shops  1720. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Geonje  E.  Littlefield. 

As  early  as  16-io,  and  i)erhaps  a  year  or  two  earlier,  a  speller  was 
printed  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  No  copy  of  it  has  come  down  to  us, 
but  probably  it  was  a  reprint  of  some  English  speller  of  the  time, 
and  may  have  been  an  exact  copy  of  Cootc's  Kn(jli.'<h  Schoolmaster, 
a  very  popular  speller  of  the  seventeenth  century,  which  was  first 
published  in  1590.  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  Mr. 
Strong's  spellers  were  very  popular,  being  published  in  London  as 
early  as  1676.  They  were  imported  into  New  England  and  sold  here, 
as  in  the  inventory  of  the  stock  of  Michael  Perry,  a  Boston  book- 
seller, taken  in  1700,  is  listed  "12  Strong's  Spelling  books."  The 
first  spelling  book  by  an  American  author  was  published  in  1783  in 
Hartford,  Conn.,  and  its  author  was  Noah  Webster. 


51 

330.  [Lewis,  Ezekiel?]  A  short  Introduction  to  the 
Latin  Tongue :  For  the  use  of  the  Lower 
Forms  in  the  Latin  School ;  Beinff  the  Acci- 
dence,  abridged  and  compiled  in  that  most  easy 
and  accurate  method,  wherein  the  famous  Mr. 
Ezekiel  Cheever  taught,  and  which  he  found  the 
most  advantageous,  by  seventy  years  experi- 
ence. To  which  is  added,  A  Catalogue  of 
Irregular  Nouns  and  Verbs,  Disposed  Alpha- 
betically. The  Eighteenth  Edition.  Printed 
by  John  Mycall,  for  E.  Battelle,  and  sold  by 
them  at  their  shops  in  Boston  and  Newbury- 
port.  MDCCLXXXV. 
Lent  by  Mr.  George  E.  Littlefield. 

Ezekiel  Cheever  came  to  Boston  from  Loiiclon  in  1637,  but  soon  re- 
moved to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  where  he  taught  school  twelve  years. 
In  1G50  he  went  to  Ipswich,  Mass.,  where  he  taught  in  the  grammar 
school  eleven  years.  He  again  removed  in  l(i61  to  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  where  he  was  master  of  the  grammar  school  for  nine  years. 
Having  been  chosen  master  of  the  Latin  School  in  Boston,  he  removed 
to  that  town  in  1670.  and  olficiated  as  master  until  his  death,  Aug.  21, 
1708,  aged  ninety-three. 

Although  this  little  treatise  is  familiarly  known  as  Cheever's 
"  Latin  Accidence"  yet  it  is  very  doubtful  if  he  was  its  composer. 
The  first  edition  was  published  in  1709,  the  year  after  his  death,  but 
the  name  of  the  author  did  not  appear  on  the  title-page.  The  title- 
page  of  the  edition  published  in  1724  has  the  following  addition, "The 
Third  Edition  revised  and  corrected  by  the  Author."  This  would 
seem  to  show  that  Ezekiel  Cheever  was  not  the  author.  The  l)ook 
was  written  for  the  use  of  the  lower  forms  of  the  Koston  Latin  School, 
and  the  indications  point  very  decidedly  towards  Ezekiel  Levvi.s,  the 
grandson  of  Ezekiel  Cheever,  who  was  assistant  to  his  grandfather  at 
the  time  of  the  latters  death.  President  (iuiucy  spoke;  very  highly  of 
this  book:  "A  work  which  was  used  for  more  tlian  a  century  in  the 
schools  of  New  England,  as  tlie  first  elementary  book  for  learning  the 
Latin  language  " 


52 

334.  Morton,  Thomas.  New  English  Canaan  or  New 
Canaan.  Containing  an  Abstract  of  New 
England,  Composed  in  three  Bookes.  The  first 
Booke  setting  forth  the  originall  of  the  Natives, 
their  Manners  and  Customes,  together  with 
their  tractable  Nature  and  Love  towards  the 
English.  The  second  Booke  setting  forth  the 
naturall  Indowments  of  the  Country,  and  what 
staple  Commodities  it  yealdeth.  The  third 
Booke  setting  forth,  what  people  are  planted 
there,  their  prosperity,  what  remarkable  acci- 
dents have  happened  since  the  first  planting  of 
it,  together  with  their  Tenents  and  practice 
of  their  Church.  Written  by  Thomas  Morton 
of  Cliffords  Inne  gent,  upon  tenne  years  knowl- 
edge and  experiment  of  the  Country.  Printed 
at  Amsterdam,  By  Jacob  Frederick  Stam  In 
the  Yeare  1637. 
Lent  hy  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

Thomas  Morton  of  CliflFord's  Inn,  gentleman,  came  to  Plymouth  in 
June,  1622,  and  after  inspecting  the  country  returned  to  England  in 
September  of  the  same  year.  He  returned  in  1625  and  took  up  his 
residence  at  Mare-Mount,  now  Quincy. 

He  was  of  a  jovial  and  roistering  disposition,  and  his  actions  were 
displeasing  to  his  Plymouth  neighbors,  especially  in  his  erection  of  a 
Maypole,  and  dancing  around  it  with  the  Indians.  Also,  he  supplied 
the  Indians  with  arms,  in  order  that  they  might  hunt  for  him.  This 
had  been  prohibited,  as  it  was  considered  prejudicial  to  the  safety 
of  the  colonists.  Accordingly  he  was  arrested,  tried,  found  guilty, 
and  sent  a  prisoner  to  England  in  1628.      He  returned  in  August, 

1629,  as  secretary  to  AUerton,  but  soon  found  his  way  back  to  Mare- 
Mount.    He  was  again  arrested  and  sent  as  a  i)risoner  to  England  in 

1630.  He  now  wrote  New  English  Canaan,  having,  as  he  says  in 
his  book,  had  "  ten  years  knowledge  and  experiment  of  the  country  " 
It  is  said  to  have  been  first  puV>lished  in  1632.    It  is  divided  into  three 


53 

books,  the  first  treating  of  the  Indians,  the  second  of  the  natural 
history  of  the  country,  the  third  of  the  people  there  and  his  own  suffer- 
ings. The  third  part  is  written  in  allegorical  style,  the  principal 
characters  appearing  under  fictitious  names.  Naturally  the  book  is 
not  complimentary  to  the  New  England  people.  Morton  returned 
in  1643,  was  again  arrested,  tried  for  the  libels  his  book  was  said  to 
have  contained,  found  guilty,  and  fined  one  hundred  pounds.  He 
was  allowed  to  go  to  Agamenticus,  where  he  died  two  years  later. 

335.  Morton,  Nathaniel.  Kew-Englands  Memoriall  : 
or,  A  brief  Relation  of  the  most  Memorable  and 
Remarkable  Passages  of  the  Providence  of  God, 
manifested  to  the  Planters  of  New-England  in 
America ;  With  special  Reference  to  the  first 
Colony  thereof,  Called  New-Plimouth.  As 
also  a  Nomination  of  divers  of  the  most  Emi- 
nent Instruments  deceased,  both  of  Church  and 
Common-wealth,  improved  in  the  first  begin- 
ning and  after-progress  of  sundry  of  the  respec- 
tive Jurisdictions  in  those  Parts  ;  in  referance 
unto  sundry  Exemplary  Passages  of  their  Lives 
and  the  time  of  their  Death.  Published  for  the 
Use  and  Benefit  of  the  present  and  future  Gen- 
erations, By  Nathaniel  Morton,  Secretary  to 
the  Court  of  Jurisdiction  of  New-Plimouth. 
Cambridge  :  Printed  by  S.  G.  &  M.  J.  for  John 
Usher  of  Boston  1(3()9. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

The  earliest  printed  attempt  at  a  formal  hi.story  of  the  old  colony. 
It  was  written  by  Nathaniel  Morton,  sou  of  George  Morton,  who  had 
married,  in  England,  a  sister  of  Governor  Bradford,  and  who  canio  to 
Plymouth  with  his  family  in  July,  1023,  in  the  ship  "^  Ann."  In  KM;* 
he  was  chosen  secretary  of  the  colony  court,  and  continued  in  the 
oflSce  till  his  death,  June  28,  ir)85,  aged  seventy-two.  Morton  had 
access  to  the  manu.seript  journal  of  his   uncle.  Governor  liradfoni, 


54 

from  which  he  made  liberal  extracts  in  writing  his  Memoriall.  He 
also  wrote  a  history  of  the  church  at  Plymouth,  which,  unfortunately, 
was  destroyed  by  lire  in  Boston  in  1676,  having  been  lent  to  Rev. 
Increase  Mather,  whose  church  and  dwelling-house  were  destroyed  by 
the  same  fire. 

336.  Mather,  Cotton.  The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
World  :  Being  an  Account  of  the  Tryalls  of 
Several  Witches,  Latelj^  Executed  in  New- 
England  :  And  of  several  remarkable  Curiosities 
therein  Occurina;,  Tooether  with,  I  Obser- 
vations  upon  the  Nature,  the  Number,  and  the 
Operations  of  the  Devils.  II  A  short  Narrative 
of  a  late  outrage  committed  by  a  knot  of  Witches 
in  Swede-land,  very  much  resembling,  and  so 
far  explaining,  that  under  which  New-England 
has  laboured.  Ill  Some  Counccls  directing  a 
due  Improvement  of  the  Terrible  things  lately 
done  by  the  unusual  and  amazing  Range  of 
Evil-Spiri(ts)  in  New-Eni>land.  IV  A  brief 
Discourse  upon  those  Temptations  Avhich  are 
the  more  ordinary  Devices  of  Satan.  By  Cot- 
ton Mather.  Published  by  the  Special  Com- 
mand of  his  Excellency  the  Govcrnour  of  the 
Province  of  the  Massachusetts-Bay  in  New- 
England.  Printed  first,  at  Bostun  in  New- 
England :  and  Reprinted  at  London,  for  John 
Dunton,  at  the  Raven  in  the  Poultry.  1693. 
Lent  hy  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

Kev.  Cotton  Mather,  whether  regarded  as  a  scholar  or  a  writer, 
was  the  representative  man  of  New  England  during  the  latter  part 
of  tlie  seventeenth  and  the  early  i)art  of  the  eighteenth  centur}'.  He 
published  nearly  four  hundred  books,  and  wielded  a  powerful  influ- 
ence in  the  comnuniity.     The  course  pursued  by  him  in  the  Salem 


55 

witchcraft  delusion  has  subjected  him  to  severe  criticism.  He  was  a 
believer  in  miraculous  signs,  omens,  haunted  places  and  witchcraft, 
and  it  should  be  said  of  him  that  he  had  published  books  on  these 
subjects  several  years  before  the  unfortunate  outbreak  at  Salem.  His 
books,  which  were  widely  distributed,  and  the  stories  they  contained, 
which  were  believed  by  the  greater  portion  of  the  public,  undoubtedly 
contributed  largely  to  the  terrible  deeds  in  which  that  delusion  cul- 
minated. When,  in  1692,  twenty  persons  had  been  put  to  death  and 
many  others  had  been  imprisoned,  the  conservative  portion  of  the 
people  began  to  doubt  a  doctrine  which  had  to  be  supported  by  such 
means,  and  called  a  halt.  Mather,  however,  continued  in  his  delusion, 
and  in  1693  published  the  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  Wo7-ld.  It  was 
approved  by  the  president  of  Harvard  College  and  many  other  influ- 
ential persons.  The  opposition,  however,  soon  gained  the  day,  the 
executions  ceased  and  the  prisoners  were  released. 


337.  Wigglesworth,  Michael.  The  Day  of  Doom  :  or, 
A  Poetical  Description  of  The  Great  and  Last 
Judgement,  with  A  Short  Discourse  about 
Eternity.  By  Michael  Wigglesworth,  Teacher 
of  the  Church  at  Maldon  in  N.  E.  The  Fifth 
Edition  enlarged  Avith  Scripture  and  Marginal 
Notes.  Boston  :  Printed  by  B.  Green,  and  J. 
Allen,  for  Benjamin  P^liot,  at  his  Shop  under 
the  West  End  of  the  Town-House.  1701 
Lent  hy  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

The  author,  Michael  Wigglesworth,  was  l)orn  in  England  in  16:51 ; 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1651,  and  died  in  170,0.  He 
was  the  earliest  poet  among  the  graduates  of  Harvard.  There  were 
earlier  graduates  who  had  written  elegies  and  short  poems  on  special 
occasion.s,  but  this  was  the  first  attempt  at  a  long  poem  which  was 
considered  of  any  literary  imj)ortaiu;e.  It  is  a  verification  oi'  the 
scriptural  account  of  the  Last  Judgment,  and  was  the  most  popular 
and  the  most  widely  circulated  poetical  volume  of  the  .seventeenth 
century  in  America.  The  tir.st  edition,  pul)li.shed  in  1662,  consisted 
of  eighteen  hundred  copies,  all  of  whicii  wen;  sold  in  one  year.    ( )nl y 


56 

one  imperfect  copy  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  The  same  is  true  ot 
the  second  edition,  published  in  1666.  Of  the  third  edition,  pub- 
lished about  1673,  and  the  fourth  edition,  published  about  1683,  no 
copies  are  known.  The  Boston  edition  of  1701,  a  copy  of  which  is 
exhibited,  is  the  earliest  American  edition  represented  by  a  perfect 
copy.    The  book  was  reprinted  several  times  in  England. 

Stanzas  180  and  181,  which  relate  to  the  doom  of  those  who  died 
in  infancy,  are  frequently  quoted.     They  are  as  follows :  — 

"  You  sinners  are,  and  such  a  share  as  sinners  may  expect, 
Such  you  shall  have ;  for  1  do  save  none  but  my  own  Elect. 
Yet  to  compare  your  sin  with  theirs  who  lived  a  longer  time, 
I  do  confess  yours  is  much  less,  though  every  sin's  a  crime. 

A  crime  it  is,  therefore  in  bliss  you  may  not  hope  to  dwell ; 

But  unto  you  I  shall  allow  the  easiest  room  in  Hell. 

The  glorious  King  thus  answering,  they  cease,  and  plead  no  longer ; 

Their  Consciences  must  needs  confess  his  Reasons  are  the  stronger." 


338.  [Mather,  Cotton.]  Parentator.  Memoirs  of  Remark- 
ables  in  the  Life  and  the  Death  of  the  Ever- 
Memorable  Dr.  Increase  Mather.  Who  Expired, 
August  23,  1723.  Boston:  Printed  by  B. 
Green,  for  Nathaniel  Belknap,  at  the  Corner 
of  Scarlets- Wharff.  1724. 
Lent  hy  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

A  loving  memorial  and  a  monument  of  filial  affection.  A  tribute 
to  the  virtues  of  his  illustrious  father,  who  was  looked  upon  as  a 
leader  by  the  whole  community,  and  whose  opinions  were  consulted 
in  the  most  important  transactions  and  controversies. 

For  four  successive  generations  the  Mather  family  was  prominent 
in  the  civil  and  religious  affairs  of  the  country.  The  names  of 
Richard,  Increase,  Cotton  and  Samuel  Mather,  who  did  so  much  to  de- 
velop the  infant  colony,  will  ever  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance 
by  the  descendants  of  the  New  England  fathers.  Henry  Ware,  Jr., 
says :  "  The  name  of  Increase  Mather  still  lives ;  and  when  hundreds 
of  generations  shall  have  sunk  to  irrecoverable  oblivion  he  shall  still 
be  hailed  as  one  of  the  worthies  of  New  England." 


57 

339.  Sjmmes,  Thomas.    LovewellLamented.  or,  a  Sermon 

Occasion'd  by  the  Fall  of  the  Brave  Capt.  John 
Lovewell  And  Several  of  his  Valiant  Company, 
In  the  late  Heroic  Action  at  Piirorwacket.  Pro- 
nounc'd  at  Bradford,  May  16,  1725  B}-^  Thoma.-^ 
Symmes,  V.D.M.  Boston  in  New-England  : 
Printed  by  B.  Green  Junr.  for  S.  Gerrish,  near 
the  Brick  Meeting  House  in  Cornhill.  1725. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

A  sermoa  preached  on  the  16th  of  May,  1725,  by  the  Rev  Thomas 
Symmes  of  Bradford,  Mass.,  a  week  after  the  death  of  the  brave 
Lovewell,  to  which  is  prefixed  an  historical  memoir  which  gives  us 
the  best  account  of  the  battle  which  has  been  transmitted  to  us.  The 
name  of  Lovewell  became  famous,  and  the  story  of  his  exploits  was 
rehearsed  everywhere.  A  mournful  ballad,  written  shortly  after  the 
battle,  recounting  the  chief  incidents  of  the  event,  was  published,  and 
became  a  very  popular  song  in  the  colonies. 

Symmes  gives  the  well-known  story  of  the  killing  of  the  Indian 
chief  Paugus  by  John  Chamberlain,  now  believed  to  be  apocryphal. 
Rev.  Elias  Nason,  in  the  HMory  of  Dunstable,  says :  "  Capt.  Love- 
well was  brave,  adventurous,  and  persistent.  He  died  with  his  gun 
loaded  and  pointed  towards  the  foe.  His  blood  was  not  spilled  in 
vain.  The  action  atPequaket  closed  the  war  and  insured  tranquility. 
A  treaty  of  peace  was  soon  made  with  the  difiei'ent  tribes  and  the 
Pequakets,  under  their  leader  Adeawanda,  removed  to  Canada  ' 

340.  Mather,  Cotton.     Magnalia  Christ!  Americana  :  or 

the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New-England, 
from  Its  First  Planting  in  the  Year  1G20.  unto 
the  Year  of  our  Lord,  l()9>i.  In  Seven  Books. 
I.  Antiquities:  In  Seven  Chapters.  With  an 
Appendix.  II.  ('ontaining  the  Lives  of  the 
Governours,  and  the  Names  of  the  Magistrates 
of  Xew-Englaiid  :  In  Thirteen  Chapters.  With 
an  Appcndi.x.  III.  The  Lives  of  Si.xty  I^'amous 
Divines,   bv  whose   Ministry  the  Churches  of 


58 

New-England  have  been  Planted  and  Con- 
tinued. IV.  An  Account  of  the  University 
of  Cambridge  in  New-England ;  in  Two  Parts. 
The  First  contains  the  Laws,  the  Benefactors, 
and  Vicissitudes  of  Harvard  College  ;  with  Re- 
marks upon  it.  The  Second  Part  contains  the 
Lives  of  some  Eminent  Persons  Educated  in  it. 

V.  Acts  and  Monuments  of  the  Faith  and  Order 
in  the  Churches  of  New-England,  passed  in  their 
Synods;  with  Historical  Remarks  upon  those 
Venerable  Assemblies  ;  and  a  great  Variety  of 
Church-Cases  occurring,  and  resolved  by  the 
Synods   of  those   Churches :    In    Four   Parts. 

VI.  A  Faithful  Record  of  many  Illustrious, 
Wonderful  Providences,  both  of  Mercies  and 
Judgements,  on  divers  Persons  in  New-Eng- 
land. In  Eight  Chapters.  VII.  The  Wars 
of  the  Lord.  Being  an  History  of  the  Mani- 
fold Afflictions  and  Disturbances  of  the  Churches 
in  New-England,  from  their  Various  Adversaries, 
and  the  Wonderful  Methods  and  Mercies  of 
God  in  their  Deliverance  :  In  Six  Chapters  :  To 
which  is  subjoined.  An  Appendix  of  Remark- 
al)le  Occurrences  which  New-England  had  in 
the  Wars  with  the  Indian  Salvages,  from  the 
Year  1688,  to  the  Year  1698.  By  the  Reverend 
and  Learned  Cotton  Mather,  M.A.  And  Pastor 
of  the  North  Church  in  Boston,  New-England. 
London  Printed  for  Thomas  Parkhurst,  at  the 
Bible  and  Three  Crowns  in  Cheapside.  MDCCII. 

Leni  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Gay. 

Concerning  this   remarkable  book  the    Quarterly   Review  sajs : 
•  One  of  the  most  singular  works  in  this  or  any  other  language.     Its 


59 

puns  and  its  poems,  its  sermons  and  its  anagrams,  render  it  imique  in 
its  kind." 

It  is  tlie  first  collected  edition  of  the  works  of  an  American  author. 
It  is  a  standard  work,  and  must  always  be  consulted  by  students  of 
early  New  England  affairs  Many  important  events  happened  during 
the  lifetime  of  Dr.  Mather,  and  as  he  was  a  keen  obsei-ver,  and  has 
recorded  in  his  history  many  of  the  things  he  saw,  we  seem  to  be 
almost  in  touch  with  the  events  themselves.  He  had  excellent  oppor- 
tunities for  consulting  authentic  documents,  many  of  which  are  now 
lost,  and  many  of  his  facts  are  attested  by  living  witnesses,  with  whom 
he  had  held  personal  interviews.  The  title  shows  that  it  is  a  civil  as 
well  as  an  ecclesiastical  history.  A  large  portion,  also,  is  devoted  to 
biography,  which  affords  the  reader  a  distinct  view  of  the  leading 
characters  of  the  times.     It  has  been  reprinted  several  times. 

431.  Wheatley,  Phillis.  Poems  on  Various  Subjects, 
Keligious  and  Moral.  By  Phillis  Wheatley, 
Negro  Servant  to  Mr.  John  Wheatley  of  Bos- 
ton, in  New  England.  London.  Printed  for 
A.  Bell,  Bookseller,  Aldgate ;  and  sold  by 
Messrs.  Cox  and  Berry,  King-Street,  Boston, 
MDCCLXXIII. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

A  remarkable  example  of  how  one  who  was  taken  from  the  lowest 
condition  of  humanity  was  in  a  few  years  raised  to  a  position  in  which 
she  attracted  the  notice  and  approbation  of  persons  in  elevated  sta- 
tions. This  negro  girl,  born  in  Africa  about  1753,  and  brought  to 
Boston  about  1760,  was  bought  as  a  slave  by  ^Ir.  John  Wheatley  at 
the  request  of  his  wife,  who  wished  to  obtain  a  young  negress,  and, 
by  training  her  under  her  own  eye,  secure  to  herself  a  faithful  do- 
mestic in  her  old  age.  She  soon  gave  indications  of  uncommon 
intelligence,  and  within  sixteen  months  had  acquired  the  English 
language  to  such  a  degree  that  she  was  able  to  read  the  most  difli- 
cult  parts  of  the  Scriptures  and  to  write.  The  family  became  greatly 
interested  in  her,  and  under  careful  training  her  mind  was  developed, 
and  she  soon  attracted  the  literary  people  of  the  day,  especially 
by  her  verse,  which  she  began  to  write  as  early  as  her  fourteenth 


60 

year.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  on  account  of  ill  health,  a  sea  voyage 
was  advised,  and  she  was  taken  to  England,  where  she  was  well  re- 
ceived by  Lady  Huntington,  Lord  Dartmouth  and  other  prominent 
people.  During  her  stay  in  England  her  poems  were  given  to  the 
world,  dedicated  to  the  Countess  of  Huntington,  and  embellished  with 
a  portrait  which  is  said  to  be  a  faithful  likeness  of  her. 

Owing  to  the  declining  health  of  her  mistress  she  returned  to 
Boston  in  the  latter  part  of  1773.  Mrs.  Wheatley  died  in  1774  and 
Phillis  survived  her  only  ten  years.  Her  poems  have  considerable 
merit  and  have  been  several  times  reprinted. 


432.  Mather,  Increase.  KOMHTOrPA$lA  or  a  Dis- 
course Concerning  Comets  ;  wherein  the  Nature 
of  the  Blazing  Stars  is  Enquired  into  :  With 
an  Historical  Account  of  all  of  the  Comets  which 
have  appeared  from  the  Beginning  of  the  World 
unto  this  present  Year,  MDCLXXXIII.  Ex- 
pressing The  Place  in  the  Heavens,  where  they 
were  seen,  Their  Motion,  Forms,  Duration  ; 
and  the  Remarkable  Events  which  have  followed 
in  the  World,  so  far  as  they  have  been  by 
Learned  Men  Observed.  As  also  two  Sermons 
Occasioned  by  the  late  Blazing  Stars.  By  In- 
crease Mather,  Teacher  of  a  Church  at  Boston 
in  New-England.  Boston  in  New  England. 
Printed  by  S.  G.  for  S.  S.  and  sold  by  J. 
Browning  at  the  corner  of  Prison  Lane  next 
the  Town  House  1683. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Library  of  Boston. 

Occasioned  by  the  appearance  in  the  heavens  in  December,  1679, 
of  a  blazing  star,  "  with  a  stream  (over  sixty  degrees  in  length)  of 
such  a  stupendous  magnitude,  as  that  few  men  now  living  ever  be- 
held the  like."  It  created  so  much  excitement  among  the  people  that 
the  Rev.  Increase  Mather  was  asked  to  explain  it,  which  he  did  by 


61 

writing  this  book,  to  which  he  added  two  sermons  which  he  had 
already  preached  upon  the  same  subject.  First  he  presents  the 
theory  of  comets,  or  blazing  stars,  and  then  a  history  of  comets  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world.  It  might  reasonably  be  called  our  first 
scientific  treatise.  He  concludes  as  follows:  "The  star-gazers  in 
Babylon,  who  by  looking  upon  the  heavens,  and  observing  the 
courses  and  conjunctions  of  the  stars  there  would  undertake  to  tell 
the  fates  and  fortunes  of  kingdoms ;  all  the  judicial  astrologers  and 
wizards  there,  could  not  by  all  their  skill  in  the  stars  read  their  own 
nation's  ruin,  until  the  day  that  it  came  upon  them.  Therefore,  it  is 
not  good  positively  to  determine  what  the  particular  miseries  or  mu- 
tations are,  nor  the  persons  or  places  that  shall  undoubtedly  perceive 
the  eflfects  thereof,  when  rare  conjunctions  of  the  planetary  bodies 
happen,  or  when  blazing  stars  appear.  Only  that  at  least  some  of 
those  evils  which  have  been  wont  to  attend  the  like  appearances,  are 
at  the  door,  we  may  rationally  conjecture  and  conclude  " 


433.  Norton,  John.  The  Heart  of  New-England  Rent  at 
the  Blasphemies  of  the  present  Generation.  Or 
a  brief  Tractate,  Concerning  the  Doctrine  of  the 
Quakers,  Demonstrating  the  destructive  nature 
thereof,  to  Religion,  the  Churches,  and  the 
State  ;  with  consideration  of  the  Remedy  against 
it.  Occasional  Satisfaction  to  Objections,  and 
Confirmation  of  the  contrary  Truth.  By  John 
Norton,  Teacher  of  the  Church  of  Christ  at 
Boston,  who  was  appointed  thereunto,  by  the 
Orderof  the  General  Court.  London.  Printed 
by  J.  H.  for  John  Allen  at  the  Rising-Sunne  in 
St.  Paul-s  Church- Yard  1(360. 
Lent  by  The  Public  Librarij  of  Boston. 

Rev.  John  Norton  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  theological  writers 
of  his  time.  Born  in  England,  May  <;,  1G06,  graduated  at  tlic  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  which  he  entered  when  iburteen  years  of  age,  and 
having  taken  holy  orders,  he  came  to  New  England  in  lO^/).     After 


62 

having  preached  a  short  time  at  Plymouth  he  removed  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts colony,  and  in  1638  became  pastor  of  the  church  at  Ipswich. 
In  1644  he  was  unanimously  chosen  by  the  New  England  divines  to 
reply  to  the  questions  concerning  church  government  which  had  been 
sent  over  by  the  divines  of  England.  His  reply,  elegantly  written  in 
Latin,  was  published  in  1645,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  book 
prepared  in  that  language  in  New  England.  In  1645  he  preached 
the  annual  election  sermon  before  the  Great  and  General  Court.  In 
1650  William  Pynchon  of  Springfield  published  a  book  in  which  he 
maintained  the  damnable  heresy  "  that  Christ  did  not  suffer  for  us 
those  unutterable  torments  of  God's  wrath  that  are  commonly  called 
Hell-torments."  The  General  Court  ordered  the  book  to  be  burned 
by  the  executioner  in  the  market  place  in  Boston,  and  requested  Mr. 
Norton  to  reply  to  it.  He  responded  to  the  request,  and  his  reply  was 
published  in  1653. 

In  1656  he  was  installed  as  teacher  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston 
and  was  the  colleague  of  the  Rev.  John  Wilson.  About  this  time 
the  people  of  Boston  were  much  incensed  against  the  Quakers,  and 
soon  passed  laws  against  them  and  those  who  befriended  them.  At 
the  request  of  the  Legislature  Mr.  Norton  prepared  a  pamphlet 
entitled  The  Heart  of  New  Englayid  rent,  in  which  he  explains  the 
doctrine  of  the  Quakers  and  how  it  was  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of 
New  England.  He  contends  that  this  country  was  a  religious  planta- 
tion, not  a  plantation  for  trade,  and  declaims  against  the  aggression 
of  those  who  came  with  the  purpose  to  break  up  the  costly  enter- 
prise, and  that  those  who  engaged  in  these  turbulent  proceedings 
should  be  punished. 

The  volume  furnishes  us  with  a  clear  view  of  how  the  New  Eng- 
land fathers  regarded  the  Quakers. 


441.  Cotton,  John.  Gods  Promise  To  ]lis  Plantation. 
2  Sam.  7.  10.  ^Moreover,  T  will  appoint  a 
place  for  my  people  Israel,  and  T  will  plant 
them,  that  they  may  dwell  in  a  place  of  their 
owne,  and  move  no  more.  As  it  was  delivered 
in  a  Sermon,  by  John  Cotton,  B.D.  and 
Preacher  of  Gods  word  in  Boston.     London, 


63 

Printed  by  William  Jones  for  John  Bellamy, 
and  are  to  be  solde  (at  the  Golden  Lyons  by 
the  Royal  Exchange  1630.) 
Lent  by  Harvard  College  Library. 

The  author  was  Rev.  John  Cotton,  at  that  time  the  brilliant  preacher 
of  the  Ancient  Church  of  St.  Botolph  in  Boston,  Eng  ,  perhaps  the  most 
stately  parish  church  in  England,  a  cathedral  in  size  and  beauty.  He 
was  a  stanch  and  uncompromising  advocate  of  Puritanism,  and  "  it 
was  from  this  superb  temple,"  as  Palfrey  says  in  his  History  of  New 
England, ''  that  John  Cotton  came  to  preach  the  (lospel  within  the 
mud  walls  and  under  the  thatched  roof  of  the  meeting-house  in  a  rude 
New  England  hamlet." 

At  the  departure  of  Winthroi)'s  company,  Cotton  made  a  journey 
to  take  leave  of  them  at  Southampton,  at  which  time  he  preached  the 
sermon  which  was  first  printed  in  1630,  but  has  been  reprinted  several 
times  under  this  title,  God's  Promise  to  his  Plantation.  It  was  com- 
posed in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  largest  fleet  and  greatest  number 
of  emigrants  ever  fitted  out  for  New  England  were  al)out  to  depart. 

The  text  was  very  hai)pily  chosen,  and  in  the  sermon  Cotton  pre- 
sents the  reasons  which  may  justify  so  seiious  a  step  as  forming  a  new 
settlement  such  as  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company  were  planning. 
He  also  advises :  "  Have  a  special  care  that  you  ever  have  the  ordi- 
nances planted  amongst  you,  or  else  never  look  for  security.  Be  not 
immindful  of  our  Jerusalem  at  home,  (io  forth  with  a  public  spirit, 
looking  not  for  your  own  things  only,  but  also  on  the  things  of  others. 
Offend  not  the  poor  natives  but  as  you  partake  in  their  land,  so  make 
them  partakers  in  your  precious  faith.  As  you  reap  their  temporals, 
so  feed  them  your  spirituals.  Win  them  to  the  love  of  Christ,  for 
whom  Christ  died,*'  etc. 

The  books  wliich  furnish  us  with  the  real  views  and  feelings  of  the 
colonists  themselves,  and  of  many  in  England  towards  them,  are 
The  Planters  Pica,  presumed  to  have  been  written  by  llev.  Jolm 
White,  and  published  in  London  in  16:30,  shortly  after  the  departure 
of  Winthrop ;  The  Humble  Pci/uest  of  His  Majeslirs  J.oi/all  Stibjicts, 
written  on  board  of  tlie  "Arbella"  by  Winthrop  and  otliers,  and 
published  just  as  they  were  leaving  England  ;  and  'l'>d's  l'r(i)insi  !•> 
his  Plantati'm,  preaclied  to  them  V)y  ("olton  while  waiting  at  South- 
ampton. 


64 

442.  Hubbard,  William.  A  Narrative  of  the  Troubles 
with  the  Indians  In  New-England,  from  the 
first  planting  thereof  in  the  year  1607.  to  this 
present  year  1677.  But  chiefly  of  the  late 
Troubles  in  the  two  last  years,  1675.  and  1676 
To  which  is  added  a  Discourse  about  the  Warre 
with  the  Pequods  In  the  year  1637,  By  W. 
Hubbard,  Minister  of  Ipswich.  Published  by 
Authority.  Boston  ;  Printed  by  John  Foster, 
in  the  year  1677. 
Lent  by  Harvard  College  Library. 

A  narrative  that  has  always  been  regarded  by  historians  as  a 
standard  of  authority,  and  has  received  the  honor  of  having  been 
many  times  reprinted.  In  the  Advertiseiarnt  to  the  Reader  the 
author  says :  "  Much  of  what  is  herein  mentioned,  depending  on  the 
single  authority  of  particular  persons,  an  exact  description  of  every 
occurrence  was  hardly  to  be  obtained.  All  soldiers  are  not  like 
Cassar,  able  to  describe  with  their  pens,  what  they  have  done  with 
their  swords.  But  the  most  material  passages  inserted,  were  either 
gathered  out  of  the  letters,  or  taken  from  the  mouths  of  such  as  were 
eye  or  ear- witnesses  of  the  things  themselves,  and  those  also  persons 
worthy  of  credit."  The  Imprimatur  reads  :  "  The  worthy  author  of 
this  Narrative  (of  whose  fidelity  we  are  well  assured)  by  his  great 
pains  and  industry,  in  collectii)g  and  compiling-  the  several  occurances 
of  this  Indian  War,  from  the  relations  of  such  as  were  present  in  par" 
ticular  actions,  hath  faithfully  and  truly  performed  the  same,  as  far 
as  best  iuformation  agreeing  could  be  obtained,  which  is  therefore 
judged  meet  for  public  view  :  and  we  whose  names  are  underwritten, 
deputed  by  the  Governour  and  Council  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  to 
peruse  and  license  the  same ;  have  and  do  accordingly  order  it  to  be 
imprinted,  as  being  of  public  benefit,  and  judge  the  author  to  have 
deserved  due  acknowledgement  and  thanks  for  the  same. 

Simon  Bkadstkeet 
Boston,  March  29  D.vnikl  Denison 

1677  Joseph  Dudley.' 


65 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  the  minister  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  where  he  died 
Sept.  24,  1704,  aged  eighty-three.  He  was  remarkable  for  liberality, 
moderation  and  piety. 


443.  Penhallow,  Samuel.  The  History  of  the  Wars  of 
New-England,  With  the  Eastern  Indians,  or, 
a  Narrative  Of  their  continued  Perfidy  and 
Cruelty,  from  the  10th  of  August,  1703.  To 
the  Peace  renewed  13th.  of  July,  1713.  And 
from  the  25th.  of  July,  1722.  To  their  Sub- 
mission 15th.  December,  1725.  Which  was 
Ratified  August  5th.  1726.  By  Samuel  Pen- 
hallow,  Esqr.  Boston  :  Printed  by  T.  Fleet, 
for  S.  Gerrish  at  the  lower  end  of  Cornhill,  and 
D.  Henchman  over-against  the  Brick  Meeting- 
House  in  Cornhill,  1726. 
Lent  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

An  authentic  history  of  the  Indian  wars  from  1703  to  1726,  and 
which  was  much  relied  upon  by  Samuel  G.  Drake,  the  historian  of 
the  Indians.  Samuel  Penhallow,  the  author,  was  born  in  Cornwall, 
Eng.,  in  1665,  and  died  in  Portsmouth,  N.  IL,  in  1726.  Bred  a  Puri- 
tan, he  came  to  New  England  with  Rev.  Charles  Morton  and  settled 
at  Portsmouth,  where  he  was  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1714,  and 
chief  justice  from  1717  to  his  death.  He  was  also  for  several  years 
treasurer  of  the  province.  Although  he  says  he  had  used  all  faith- 
fulness in  compiling  his  history,  had  been  assisted  by  abstracts  from 
original  letters  and  by  persons  of  the  best  credit  and  reputation,  yet 
his  history  is  not  free  from  bias,  as  he  also  says  the  Indians  are 
bloody  pagans,  monsters  of  cruelty,  disregardful  of  treaty  obligations 
and  implacable  in  their  revenge.  He  adds :  "Now  considering  the 
league  that  has  been  solenmized  with  the  Indians,  together  with  their 
cruelty  and  treachery  so  notoriously  perpetrated,  it  is  no  wonder  if  in 
the  sequel  of  this  history,  we  find  them  under  some  signal  remark  of 
the  Divine  displeasure." 


66 

444.  Dummer,  Jer  [emiab] .  A  Defence  of  the  New- 
England  Charters.  By  Jer.  Dummer.  Lon- 
don :  Printed  by  W.  Wilkins,  and  sold  by  J. 
Peele,  at  Locke's-Head  in  Pater-noster-Bow. 
MDCCXXI. 
Lefit  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

The  new  charter  of  1691  took  away  from  the  Massachusetts  colony 
many  rights  before  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  colonists,  and  was 
strongly  opposed  by  many,  but  was  finally  adopted  by  a  majority 
of  the  General  Court.  Some  of  the  acts  were  disregarded,  or  at  least 
not  enforced,  and  in  1701  a  bill  was  brought  into  Parliament  for  re- 
uniting all  the  charter  governments  to  the  crown. 

In  the  preamble  of  this  bill  it  was  declared  that  the  severing  of 
such  power  and  authority  from  the  crown  had  been  found  by  experi- 
ence to  be  prejudicial  to  the  trade  of  the  kingdom  and  to  his  majesty's 
revenue.  The  bill  declared  the  charters  of  all  plantations  to  be 
utterly  void  and  of  no  effect.  The  agents  of  the  colonies  appeared 
before  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  bill  was  defeated.  In  the  next 
reign,  that  of  George  I.,  the  subject  of  annulling  the  charters  was 
again  brought  before  Parliament,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that 
the  New  England  charters  were  saved.  Jeremiah  Dummer,  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  colony,  was  the  agent  in  London  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  He  wrote  a  defence  of  the  New  England  charters 
which  he  addressed  to  Lord  Carteret,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  State, 
and  which  was  published  in  London  in  1721.  It  was  drawn  with 
great  ability  and  judgment  and  had  no  little  influence  in  preserving 
the  charter.  It  was  reprinted  in  1760  to  oppose  the  imposition  of 
the  stamp  duties. 


445.  [Williams,  John.]  The  Redeemed  Captive,  Ke- 
turning  to  Zion.  A  Faithful  History  of  Komark- 
able  Occurances,  in  the  Captivity  and  the 
Deliverance  of  Mr.  John  Williams  :  MinistiT 
of  the  Gospel  in  Deerfield,  Who  in  the  Desola- 
tion which  befel  that  Plantation,  by  an  Ineui*- 


67 

sion  of  the  French  &  Indians,  was  by  Them 
carried  away,  with  his  Family,  and  his  Neigh- 
borhood, unto  Canada.  Whereto  there  is  an- 
nexed a  Sermon  Preeched  by  him,  upon  his 
Keturn  at  the  Lecture  in  Boston,  Decemb.  5, 
1706.  On  those  Words,  Luk.  8.  39.  Return 
to  thine  own  House,  and  shew  how  great 
Things  God  hath  done  unto  thee.  Boston  in 
N.  E.  Printed  by  B.  Green  for  Samuel  Phil- 
lips, at  the  Brick  Shop,  1707. 
Lent  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

One  of  the  sad  events  of  the  war  known  as  Queen  Anne's  war  was 
the  destruction  of  Deerfield,  Mass.,  by  the  French  and  Indians  in 
1704.  The  attacking  force,  which  consisted  of  three  hundred  men, 
came  from  Canada  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Connecticut 
River.  They  surprised  the  town,  killed  forty-seven  of  the  inhabitants 
and  carried  one  hundred  and  twelve  into  captivity  to  Quebec,  which 
was  about  three  hundred  miles  distant.  Only  one  garrison  house  held 
out  against  the  enemy. 

Among  the  captives  was  the  minister  of  the  town,  Rev.  John 
Williams.  Two  of  his  children  were  killed,  but  his  wife  and  remain- 
ing children  were  compelled  to  join  with  the  other  captives  in  the 
march  to  Canada.  On  the  second  day  Mrs.  Williams  was  so  fatigued 
that  she  faltered,  and  her  savage  master  slew  her  with  a  tomahawk. 
At  diflferent  times  most  of  the  captives  were  redeemed,  Mr.  Williams 
and  fifty-seven  others  arriving  at  Boston  from  (Quebec  in  1706.  Mr. 
Williams  returned  to  Deerfield,  collected  his  scattered  flock,  and 
continued  as  their  minister  until  his  death,  in  1728. 

Mr.  Williams'  history  of  his  captivity,  first  published  in  1707, 
proved  to  be  a  very  popular  book,  and  has  been  reprinted  many 
times. 

446.  [Otis,  James.]  The  Rudiments  of  Latin  Pro.-^ody  : 
with  A  Dissertation  on  l^etters,  and  tlu'  Prin- 
cipals of  Harmony,  in  Poetic  and  Prosaic  Com- 
position.    Collected   Irom    some    of  the    Best 


68 

Writers.  Boston.  N.  E.  Printed  and  Sold 
by  Benj.  Mecom,  at  the  New  Printing-Office, 
near  the  Town-House,  MDCCLX. 

Lent  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

Although  his  name  does  not  appear  on  the  title-page  it  is  known 
that  the  author  was  James  Otis,  who  later  became  the  great  defender 
of  the  rights  of  the  colonies.  It  is  divided  into  two  parts,  separately 
paged,  the  Prosody  occupying  sixty  pages  and  the  Dissertation 
seventy-two.  Only  a  few  months  after  its  publication,  Otis,  "  with  a 
tongue  of  flame  and  the  inspiration  of  a  seer,"  was  arguing  the  ques- 
tion of  writs  of  assistance  in  the  council  chamber  in  Boston,  and  lead- 
ing the  van  of  American  patriots. 

447.  Bayley,  Nathaniel.  English  and  Latine  Exercises, 
for  School-Boys  :  Comprising  all  the  Rules  of 
Syntaxis.  with  Explanations,  and  other  neces- 
sary Observations  on  each  Rule,  and  shewing 
The  Genitive  Case,  and  Gender  of  Nouns  and 
Pronowns ;  as  also  the  P(reter) perfect  Tense, 
Supine,  and  Conjuga(tion)  of  Verbs.  Answer- 
ing Perfectly  to  the  Design  of  Mr.  Gar(retson,) 
and  Hermes  Romanus,  in  Imnging  on  Learners 
most  gradually  and  exped(it)ously  to  the  Trans- 
lating of  Engl(ish  into)  Latine.  By  N.  Bay- 
ley,  Schoolmaster.  The  Fifth  Edition,  newly 
Improv'd  and  Rovis'd  by  several  Hands.  Bos- 
ton :  Printed  by  T.  Fleet,  for  the  Booksellers 
&  Sold  at  their  Shops.  1720 
Lent  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

The  grammar  school  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  a  Latin  gram- 
mar school,  where  the  i)upils  were  taught  principally  Latin,  therefore 
the  greater  iiortion  of  the  text-book.s  that  have  come  down  to  us  are 
in  the  Latin  language.  In  the  first  century  after  the  settlement  of 
New  England  very  few  text-books  were  printed  in  New  England ; 


69 

nearly  all  were  brought  from  England.  Those  that  were  printed, 
however,  were  well  chosen,  for  instance,  Bailey's  Exercises,  Hod- 
der's  Arithmetick,  Hill's  Secretary's  Guide  and  Hoole's  Sentences. 
Nathaniel  Bailey  was  a  schoolmaster  at  Stepney,  and,  in  addition 
to  the  Lalin  Exercises,  published  a  Speller  and  An  Universal  Ety- 
mological English  Dictionary,  which  was  for  many  years  the  stand- 
ard, until  displaced  by  Johnson's  It  was  the  first  English  dictionary 
illustrated  with  woodcuts. 

448.  Culman,     Leonard.       Sententiae    Pueriles    Anglo 

Latinae,  Quas  e  diversis  authoribus  olim  colle- 
gerat,  Leonardus  Culman  ;  Et  in  Vernaculum 
Sermonem  nuperrime  transtulit,  Carolus  Hoole  : 
Pro  primis  Latinae  Linguae  Tjronibus.  Sen- 
tences for  Children,  English  and  Latin.  Col- 
lected out  of  sundry  Authors  long  since,  By 
Leonard  Culman :  And  now  Translated  into 
English  By  Charles  Hoole :  For  the  First 
Entrers  into  Latin.  Boston  in  N.  E.  Printed 
by  B.  Green,  &  J.  Allen,  for  Samuel  Phillips 
at  the  Brick  Shop.  1702. 
ILent  by  Harvard  College  Library. 

Omitting  catechisms  and  primers,  this,  perhaps,  is  the  earliest  ex- 
tant schoolbook  printed  in  New  England. 

Charles  Hoole,  a  well-known  and  successful  teacher  in  London  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  wrote  several 
text-books,  which  were  so  highly  prized  that  they  were  printed  for 
the  use  of  the  college  at  Eton.  On  account  of  his  services  to  litera- 
ture and  education.  Bishop  Saunderson  gave  him  the  rectory  of 
Stock,  in  P.ssex,  and  a  prebend  in  Lincoln  (.'atlicdral.  It  speaks  well 
for  the  intelligence  of  the  school  committee  of  Boston  that  several  of 
Mr.  Iloole's  text-books  were  prescribed  for  the  Boston  Lulln  School. 

449.  Mather,  LuTcaso.     An  iCs.<ay  For  th<'  Kcscording  of 

Illustriou.'^  Providences,  Wherein  an  Account  is 


70 

given  of  many  Remarkable  and  very  Memorable 
Events,  which  have  happened  in  this  last  Age  ; 
Especially  in  New-England.  By  Increase 
Mather,  Teacher  of  a  Church  at  Boston  in  New- 
England.  Boston  in  New  England  Printed 
by  Samuel  Green  for  Joseph  Browning.  And  are 
to  be  sold  at  his  Shop  at  the  corner  of  the  Prison 
Lane.  1684 
Lent  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

The  title-page  of  this  book  was  set  up  twice ;  for  other  form 
see  243. 

450.  Church,  Thomas.  The  Entertaining  History  of  King 
Philip's  War,  Which  began  in  the  Month  of 
June,  1675.  as  also  of  Expeditions  more  lately 
made  Against  the  Common  Enemy,  and  Indian 
Rebels,  in  the  Eastern  Parts  of  New-England  : 
With  some  Account  of  the  Divine  Providence 
towards  Col.  Benjamin  Church :  By  Thomas 
Church  Esq.  his  Son.  The  Second  Edition. 
Boston:  Printed,  1716.  Newport,  Rhode 
Island  :  Reprinted  and  Sold  by  Solomon  South- 
wick,  in  Queen-Street,  1772 
Lent  by  Harvard  College  Library. 

A  history  of  the  most  important  of  the  Indian  wars  of  New  Eng- 
land. Philip  or  Metacomet,  son  of  Massasoit,  had  induced  the  Indian 
tribes  of  New  England  to  combine  together  to  exterminate  the  Eng- 
lish. An  army  of  one  thousand  English  was  raised  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  United  Colonies  to  break  up  the  Indian  confederacy, 
and  was  placed  under  command  of  Governor  Winslow.  The  part 
which  Colonel  Church  took  in  the  war  is  nan-ated  in  this  history  by 
his  son,  Thomas  Church.  It  was  published  at  Boston  in  1716,  two 
years  before  the  death  of  Colonel  Church. 

Copies  of  this  edition  are  so  rare  as  to  be  practically  unattainable, 


71 

and  we  exhibit  a  copy  of  the  second  edition,  in  which  the  portraits 
are  engraved  by  Paul  Revere.  One  of  the  important  events  of  the 
war  was  the  Narragansett  swamp  fight.  Philip  had  fortified  a  small 
island  in  an  immense  swamj},  and  had  about  him  three  thousand  In- 
dians, well  supplied  with  provisions.  Against  the  fort  Governor  Wins- 
low  marched  his  troops,  being  guided  by  a  treacherous  Indian.  After 
a  stubborn  defence,  which  cost  the  English  eighty  men  killed  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  wounded,  the  fort  was  taken,  and  an  indiscriminate 
slaughter  of  Indians,  men,  women  and  children,  took  place,  about 
seven  hundred  being  killed.  The  war  lasted  two  years,  during  which 
Philip  was  killed  and  the  Indians  met  with  such  disasters  that  they 
were  glad  to  sue  for  peace,  which  was  kei)t  for  twenty  years. 


451 .  Mather,  Increase.  A  Brief  History  of  the  "War  with 
the  Indians  in  New-England.  From  June  24. 
1675.  (when  the  first  Englishman  was  Murdered 
bythelndians)  to  August  12,  1(376.  w^hen  Philip, 
alias  Metacomet,  the  princ(i)pal  Author  and 
Beginner  of  the  War,  was  slain.  Wherein  the 
Grounds,  Beginning,  and  Progress  of  the  War, 
is  summarily  expressed.  Together  with  a  seri- 
ous Exhortation  to  the  Inhabitants  of  that  Land. 
By  Increase  Mather,  Teacher  of  a  Church  of 
Christ,  in  Boston  in  New-England.  London, 
Printed  for  Richard  Chiswell,  at  the  Rose  and 
Crown  in  St.  Paul's  Church-Yard,  according 
to  the  Original  Copy  Printed  in  New-England 
1676. 
Lent  by  Uarvard  College  Library. 


A  contemporary  history  of  the  first  year  oi'  King  Philip's  war. 
The  next  year  the  same  author  published  Relation  of  the  Trouldes 
which  have  hapcned  in  New  Ertf/land  J'lorn  1014  to  107 T).  (See  No. 
246.) 


72 

452.  [Mather,  Increase.]       The  Life  and  Death  of  That 

Reverend  Man  of  God,  Mr.  Richard  Mather, 
Teacher  of  the  Church  in  Dorchester  in  New- 
England.     Cambridge :  Printed  by  S.  G.  and 
M.  J.     1670. 
Lent  by  Harvard  College  Library. 

Richard  Mather  was  one  of  the  most  learned  of  the  New  Eng- 
y  land  divines.  His  opinions  on  theological  subjects  were  much  re- 
spected, and  he  served  on  many  of  the  assemblies  convened  to  con- 
sult on  church  affairs.  He  was  prominent  in  civil  affairs  also,  and 
there  is  in  existence  an  important  petition  of  the  town  of  Dorchester, 
y  in  his  handwriting,  presented  to  the  General  Court  in  1664,  protesting 
against  the  imposition  of  taxes  by  the  King. 

He  was  bom  in  England  in  1596,  studied  at  Oxford,  was  ordained 
J  as  a  minister,  and  settled  at  Toxteth  in  1618.     Suspended  for  non- 

conformity in  1633,  he  came  to  New  England  in  1635,  and  was  settled 
as  a  minister  at  Dorchester  in  1636,  where  he~remained  until  his 
death,  in  1669.     With  Eliot  and  Welde  he  made  a  new  version  of  The 
Whole  Booke  of  Psalmr-%  which  was  published  in  1640 ;  and  the  Plat- 
^/form  of  Church  Discipline,  adopted  by  the  synod  of  1648,  was  chiefly 
-^    from  his  model.     Cotton  Mather  says :  "  He  published  two  catechismSj_ 
a  lesser  and  a  larger,  so  well  formed  that  a  Luther  himself  would  not 
have  been  ashamed  of  being  a  learner  from  him."    Of  these  cate- 
chisms only  one  copy  of  the  "larger,"  published  in  1650,  is  known  to 
be  in  existence.     A  second  edition  of  one  of  his  catechisms  was  pub- 
lished in  1665,  a  copy  6T  which  was  distril^uted  to  each  family  in  the 
town  of  Dorchester  and  paid  for  out  of  the  town  rate.     As  no  copy  is  . 
/^known  to  be  extant,  it  is  not  known  whether  it  was  the  'lesser"  or 
"  larger  "  catechism, 

453.  Hodder,  James.     Hodder  s  Arithmetick  :  Or,  That 

Necessary  Art  Made  most  Easy.  Being  ex- 
plained in  a  way  familiar  to  the  Capacity  of 
any  that  desire  to  learn  it  in  a  little  time.  By 
James  Plodder,  Writing-Mastcr.  The  Twenty 
Eighth    Edition,    Revised,     Augmented,    and 


73 

above  a  Thousand  Faults  Amended,  by  Henry 
Mose  late  Servant  and  Successor  to  the  Author 
London :  Printed  for  N.  &  M.  Boddington  at 
the  Golden  Ball  in  Duck  Lane  ;  B.  Tooke,  at 
the  Middle  Temple  Gate  in  Fleet-Street;  D. 
Midwinter,  at  the  Three  Crowns  and  B.  Cowse, 
at  the  Rose  and  Crown  in  St.  Paul's  Church- 
yard 1719. 
Lent  by  Harvard  College  Library. 

Arithmetic,  as  a  rule,  was  not  taught  in  the  grammar  school  but  in 
the  writing  school  James  Hodder,  the  author  of  this  arithmetic,  was 
the  master  of  a  writing  school  in  London,  to  whom  Charles  lloole 
sent  his  scholars  to  learn  writing  and  arithmetic.  The  first  edition  of 
Hodder's  arithmetic  was  published  in  London  in  1661.  It  met  with 
great  success,  the  twentieth  edition  being  pul)lished  in  1697.  In  1719 
the  twenty-fifth  edition  was  reprinted  in  Boston,  New  England,  by 
James  Franklin,  the  elder  brother  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  to  whom 
Benjamin  was  apprenticed  as  a  printer. 

The  first  arithmetic  by  an  American  author  was  written  by  Isaac  / 
Greenwood,  Hollisian  professor  of  mathematics  at  Harvard  College, 
and  printed  in  Boston  by  S.  Kneeland  and  T.  Green,  1729.  Nearly 
sixty  years  elapsed  before  the  second  American  arithmetic  was  pub- 
lished, the  books  used  in  the  schools  being  the  English  favorites, 
Hodder,  Cocker  and  Dilworth. 

454.  [Holyoke,  Edward.]  Pictas  et  gratulatio  ooUegii 
cantabrigiensis  apud  novan<j:lo.s.  Bostoni-Mas- 
sachusettensium  Typi.s  J.  Green  &  J.  Kussel 
MDCCLXI. 

Lent  hy  Harvard  College  Library. 

An  elegiac  and  complimentary  volume,  f)cca>sionfd  hy  the  death  ot 
George  II.,  the  accession  of  George  HI.,  and  the  marriagt!  of  tlit; 
Princess  Charlotte.  It  is  the  result  of  a  competition  among  the 
undergraduates  of  Harvard  College,  or  tho.se  who  had  taken  a  degree 
within  seven  years.     Six  guinea  prizes  were  offered  for  the  best  Latin 


74 

oration,  Latin  poem  in  hexameters,  Latin  elegy  in  hexameters  and 
pentameters,  Latin  ode,  English  poem  in  long  verse  and  English  ode. 
Governor  Bernard,  who  had  just  entered  on  his  office,  is  credited  with 
the  idea.  There  are  thirty-one  papers  in  all,  excluding  the  introduc- 
tory address  to  the  King.  Among  the  writers  were  President  Hol- 
yoke,  John  Lovell,  Stephen  Sewall,  John  Lowell,  James  Bowdoin, 
Samuel  Deane,  Benjamin  Church,  Samuel  Cooper,  Francis  Bernard 
and  Thomas  Oliver,  names  which  later  became  famous  in  the  various 
walks  of  life.  Both  in  taste  and  scholarship  the  volume  compares 
favorably  with  a  similar  publication  in  England.  In  a  letter  pre- 
senting a  copy  to  Thomas  Hollis,  President  Holyoke  says  it  is  "  an 
attempt  of  several  young  gentlemen  here  \\ith  us,  and  educated  in 
this  college,  to  show  their  pious  sorrow  on  account  of  the  death  of 
our  late  glorious  king,  their  attachment  to  his  royal  house,  the  joy 
they  have  in  the  accession  of  his  present  majesty  to  the  British  throne, 
and  in  the  prospect  they  have  of  the  happiness  of  Britain  from  the 
Royal  Progeny  which  they  hope  for  from  his  alliance  with  the  illus- 
trious house  of  Mechlenbursr" 


506.  Willard,  SamueL  A  Compleat  Body  of  Divinity 
in  Two  Hundred  and  Fifty  Expository 
Lectures  on  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism 
Wherein  The  Doctrines  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion are  unfolded,  their  Truth  confirm'd,  their 
Excellence  display'd,  their  Usefulness  improv'd  ; 
contrary  Errors  &  Vices  refuted  &  expos'd, 
Objections  answer'd,  Controversies  settled, 
Cases  of  Conscience  resolv'd  ;  and  a  great  Light 
thereby  reflected  on  the  present  Age.  By  the 
Reverend  &  Learned  Samuel  Willard,  M.  A. 
Late  Pastor  of  the  South  Church  in  Boston,  and 
Vice-President  of  Harvard  College  in  Cam- 
bridge, in  Xew-England.  Prefac'd  by  the 
Pastors  of  the  same  Church.  Boston  in  New 
Enirlund  :  Printed  hv  B.  Circen  and  S.  Knee- 


75 

land  for  B.  Eliot  and  D.  Henchman,  and  Sold 
at  their  Shops.     MDCCXXVI. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Joseph  Willard. 

An  excellent  illustration  of  the  great  esteem  in  which  the  West- 
minster Catechism  was  held  by  our  colonial  ancestors.  A  book  must 
be  highly  prized  upon  which  two  himdred  and  fifty  lectures  could  be 
written,  which,  when  published,  made  a  folio  volume  of  one  thousand 
pages.  The  author  was  Rev  Samuel  Willard,  bom  at  Concord,  Jan. 
31, 1640.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1659,  of  which 
institution  he  afterwards  became  vice-president.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  prolific  of  the  New  England  writers.  "  Mr.  Willard  possessed 
very  superior  powers  of  mind.  His  imagination  was  rich  though  not 
luxuriant,  his  perception  was  rapid  and  correct,  and  in  argument  he 
was  profound  and  clear.  In  the  time  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  he 
distinguished  himself  by  opposing  the  rash  proceedings  of  the  courts. 
His  chief  work  is  his  Body  of  Divinity,  a  folio  volume,  made  uj)  of 
monthly  lectures,  delivered  for  nineteen  years."  At  the  time  of  pub- 
lication it  was  the  largest  volume  that  had  been  produced  in  the 
colonies,  and  required  the  use  of  several  presses  upon  which  to  print 
it. 


INDEX 


Anonymone 
Anonymous 
AnonymouB 
Anonymous 
Bayley,  Nathaniel 
(Bradstreet,  Anne) 
Church,  Thomas 
Cotton,  John     . 
Culman,  Leonard 
Dummer,  Jeremiah 
Eliot,  John 
(Eliot,  John)     . 
(Endicott,  John) 
Flavell,  John     . 
Foxcroft,  Thomas 
Hale,  John 
(Harris,  Benjamin) 
Hill,  Thomas    . 
Hodder,  James 
(Holyoke,  Edward) 
Hubbard,  William 
(Lewis,  Ezekiel) 
Lyon,  James     . 
Mason,  John     . 
(Mather,  Cotton) 
(Mather,  Cotton) 
Mather,  Cotton 
Mather,  Cotton 
(Mather,  Cotton) 
(Mather,  Cotton) 
Mather,  Cotton 
Mather,  Cotton 
Mather,  Increase 
Mather,  Increase 
Mather,  Increase 
Mather,  Increase 
Mather,  Increase 
(Mather,  Increase) 
(Mather,  Increase) 
Mather,  Increase 
(Mather,  Richard) 
(Mather,  Richard) 
Mayhew,  Experience 


BKIBF   TIILK 

.  Breeches  Bible 

.  First  Boston  Directory  . 

.  Freemen's  Oath 

.  Massachusetts  Code 

,  English-Latin  Exercises 

.  Poems       .... 

,  Indian  Wars    . 

.  God's  Promise 

,  Sententiae  Puerlles . 

,  Defence  of  N.  E.  Charters 

.  Indian  Bible    . 

.  New  England's  First  Fruits 

.  Humble  Petition 

.  England's  Duty 

.  First  Century  Sermon    . 

.  Modest  Enquiry 

.  New  England  Primer 

.  Young  Secretary's  Guide 

Arithmetick     . 
,  I'ietas  et  gratulatio  , 
,  Indian  Wars    . 
.  Cheever's  Latin  Accidence 

Urania       .... 
.  Pequot  War     . 

Accomplished  Singer 
,  BonifaciuB 
,  Life  of  John  Eliot  . 
,  Magnalia  .... 
.  Parentator 

Ratio  Disciplinao     . 
,  Wonders,  Invisible  World 

Wonders,  Invisible  World 

Angelographia 
,  Indian  Wars    . 

Illustrions  Providences 
,  Illustrions  Providences 
,  K  O  M  H  T  ()  r  1*  A  *  I  A 

Life  of  Richard  Mather 
,  Walter's  Ordination 
,  Philip's  War    . 
,  Pay  Psalm  Book 
.  Cambridge  Plutforni 
.  Indian  Converts 


rRIXTBR  IirKBKlt 

.  London,  1599  .  .  .  .320 
.  John  Norman,  1789    .        .        .    163 

.  Facsimile 229 

.  (Samuel  Green)  1660  .  .  161 
.  Thomas  Fleet,  1720  .  .  .447 
.  John  Foster,  1678  ...  240 
.  Reprint,  Newport,  1772  .  .  460 
.  London,  1630  .  .  .  ,441 
.  B.  Green  &  J.  Allen,  1702  .  448 
.  London,  1721  ....  444 
.  Samuel  Green,  16S5  .  .  .  160 
.  London,  1643  .  .  .  .181 
.  (Samuel  Green)  1660  .  .  153 
.  London,  1689  .  .  .  .228 
.  8.  Kneeland  &  T.  Green,  1730  .  233 
.  B.  Green  &  J.  Allen,  1702  .  236 
.  Boston,  1784  .  .  .  .322 
.  Reprint,  Boston,  1727  .  .  328 
.  London,  1719  .  .  .  .453 
.  J.  Green  &  J.  Russell,  1761  .  454 
.  John  Foster,  1677  ...  442 
.  John  Mycall,  1785  .  .  .3.30 
.  Philadelphia,  1761  .  .  .149 
.  S.  Kneeland  &  T.  Green,  1736  .  237 
.  Bartholomew  Green,  1721  .  326 
.  Bartholomew  Green,  1710  .  248 
■  B.  Harris  &  J.  Allen,  1691  .  326 
.  London,  1702  ....  340 
.  Bartholomew  Green,  1724  .  338 
.  For  Samuel  Gorrish,  1726.  .  148 
.  Benjamin  Harris,  1693  .  .  236 
.  Reprint,  London,  1693  .  .  336 
.  B.  Green  &  J.  Allen,  1696  .  242 
,  John  Foster,  1077  .  .  .246 
.  Samuel  (ircen,  1684  .  .  .  243 
.  Samuel  Green,  1684  .  .  .449 
.  8.  Green  for  S.  Sewall,  1683  .  4.32 
.  8.  (Jrecn  &  M.  Johnson,  1670  .  452 
.Samuel  Kneeland,  1718  .  .  161 
.  Reprint,  London,  1676  .  .  451 
.  (Hteplien  Day)  1640;  N.  Y.  1903  147» 
.  .lohn  FosU-r,  16S0  .         .160 

.  London,  1727       .        .         .        .249 


78 


Moodey,  Samuel 
Morton,  Charles 
Morton,  Nathaniel 
Morton,  Thomas 
Norton,  John    . 
(Otis,  James)   - 
Penhallow,  Samuel 
Prince,  Thomas 
(Prince,  Thomas) 
(Prince,  Thomas) 
Bewail,  Samuel 
Shepard,  Thomas 
Shepard,  Thomas 
(Steere,  Richard) 
Stone,  Samuel  • 
Strong,  Nathaniel 
Symmes,  Thomas 
Torrey,  Samuel 
TuUey,  John    . 
(Ward,  Nathaniel) 
Wheatley,  Phillis 
Wigglesworth,  Michael 
Willard,  Samuel 
(Williams,  John) 
Winthrop,  John 
Wise,  John 
Wood,  William 


BBIEF  TITLE  PRINTER  NCHBBK 

Dolefnll  State  of  Damned      .  Timothy  Green,  1710         .        .  162 

.  Spirit  of  Man  ....  Benjamin  Harris,  1693       .        .  324 

,  New-England's  Memoriall    .  S.  Green  &  M.  Johnson,  1669    .  335 

New  English  Canaan      .        .  Amsterdam,  1637        .        .        .  334 

,  Heart  of  New-England  Rent  .  London,  1660       ....  433 

.  Latin  Prosody         .        .        .  Benjamin  Mecom,  1760      .        .  446 

.  Indian  Wars    ....  Thomas  Fleet,  1726    .        .        .  443 

.Chronology      .        .        .        .  S.  Kneeland  &  T.  Green,  1736  .  244 

.  Ordination  Sermon         .        .  James  Franklin,  1718         .        .  323 

.  Psalms  and  Hymns         .        .  Boston,  1758        ....  321 

.  Phaenomena  qusedam      .        .  Bartholomew  Green,  1727         .  238 

,  Catechism  ....  Rogers  &  Fowle,  1747  .  .  327 
.  Parable  of  Ten  Virgins  .  .  (London)  1695  .  .  .  .239 
.  Daniel  Catcher        .        .        .  (John  Allen)  1713      .        .        .180 

Catechism        .        .        .        .  Samuel  Green,  1684;  Hart ,  1899  231 

,  Perfect  Schoolmaster     .        .  Reprint,  Boston,  1720         .        .  329 

,  Lovewell,  Lamented       .        .  Bartholomew  Green,  Jr.,  1725  .  339 

.  Election  Sermon     .        .        .  S.  Green  for  S.  Sewall,  1683     .  164 

.Almanack         .        .        .        .  B.  Green  &  J.  Allen,  1698         .  230 

.  Simple  Cobler         .        .        .  Reprint,  Boston,  1713        .        .  250 

.  Poems London,  1773      .        .        .        .431 

.  Day  of  Doom  .        .        .        .  B.  Green  &  J.  Allen,  1701         .  337 

,  Body  of  Divinity    .        .        .  B.  Green  &  8.  Kneeland,  1726  .  506 

.  Redeemed  Captive  .        .        .  Bartholomew  Green,  1707        .  445 

.  Journal Elisha  Babcock,  1790         .        .  247 

.  Churches  Quarrel  .        .        .  Reprint,  Boston,  1715        .        .  241 

.  New  England's  Prospect        .  Reprint,  Boston,  1764        .        .  245 


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